Dassault to push 3-D industry parks

Dassault Systemes SA -- a world leader in 3-D design software and solutions－plans to increase its investment in China in response to the Made in China 2015 initiative and in the process help Chinese manufacturers transform and upgrade.

Bernard Charles, president and CEO of the French industrial designing software company, said that even though the Chinese economy was slowing down, his group still witnessed a double-digit growth in China last year.

"We see huge development opportunities emerging from the Made in China 2025, a 10-year national plan designed to transform China from a manufacturing giant into a world manufacturing power," he added.

The Dassault CEO emphasized the company's 3-D experience platform would play an important role in boosting the transformation and innovation of China's manufacturing industry, and his company would carry out what he called deep strategic cooperation with more Chinese enterprises.

"The year marks a new starting point for Dassault in China. We will continue to invest more effort into channels, technologies, manpower, resources and finance," said Zhang Ying, managing director of the Dassault China operation.

Established in 1981, the French multinational software company uses 3-D technology to provide software applications and services, designed to support companies' innovation processes.

As a provider of what it calls product life cycle management solutions, the company has more than 210,000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries. Its revenue reached 2.88 billion euros ($3.2 billion) last year, up 23 percent year-on-year.

Its 3-D software and solutions have been applied to the automobile and transportation industries, as well as to aerospace and aviation, energy, industrial equipment and the marine industries in China.

Dassault also signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Cybernaut, a Chinese investment group. It will focus on promoting 3-D industry park construction, 3-D talent cultivation and smart city projects.

The partners will cooperate to build 3-D industry parks to support the adoption by small and medium-sized companies of its 3-D experience platform. They plan to work together on education to cultivate more 3-D talent for the industry and promote the construction of a smart city in China.

Last year, Dassault launched the Virtual Singapore project with the National Research Foundation of Singapore to help the government, enterprise and research institute to handle the challenges that the country is facing.

Zhu Sendi, a consultant with the China Machinery Industry Federation, said: "Dassault's 3-D software and solutions are widely applied in the aviation industry in China. The market potential in China is huge, and with the Made in China 2025 initiative, Dassault is certainly unwilling to lose this golden opportunity."