3DEXPERIENCE World 2026, held in Houston, brought together thousands of engineers, designers, makers, students, entrepreneurs, and manufacturers for three days of innovation, collaboration, and inspiration. From groundbreaking technology to inspiring general session presentations, 3DXW26 showcased design engineering and manufacturing technology.
DriveWorks at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026
This year, 13 members of the DriveWorks team headed to Houston to attend 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026.
As a silver sponsor of the event and a SOLIDWORKS Gold Partner, we were proud to exhibit, present, learn, and network. We shared the benefits of our design automation and CPQ for Manufacturing technology with hundreds of visitors to our booth.
Alongside the DriveWorks booth, members of the DriveWorks team also hosted presentations where they shared their insight on achieving manufacturing efficiencies with DriveWorks technology.
Day 1 general session
Day 1 general session focused on how technology enables virtual environments, allowing us to push the boundaries of imagination.
We were introduced to two new SOLIDWORKS AI assistants, Leo and Marie, who join Aura as virtual companions for design and engineering workflows.
The keynote speaker was Pablos Holman, the internationally recognized technology futurist and inventor. In his keynote, Pablos shared insights from his decades of work, providing a visionary roadmap for addressing the world’s biggest challenges through emerging technologies.
Day 2 general session
Day 2 general session focused on the topic of AI.
NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang joined Dassault CEO Pascal Daloz to announce a new partnership to establish a shared industrial architecture around Virtual Twin and AI.
We heard from three founders who have used AI to innovate and grow their businesses:
- Dr. Xiaoguang Zhang, the founder of Westwood Robotics
- Dr. Aadeel Akhtar, PSYONIC, the leader in advanced bionic hands for humans and robots.
- Russell Layton from Sparx
Day 3 general session
The final general session at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026 focuses on the SOLIDWORKS community and their positive impact and reach around the world.
This year, we heard about collaboration to build the workforce of tomorrow through student competitions such as the AAKRUTI Innovation Competition, community programs, and global innovation hubs. Promoting access for engineering students was high on the agenda with the announcement of two new SOLIDWORKS initiatives – a free SOLIDWORKS student edition and the new FutureForce program designed to connect businesses with schools & colleges to create a pipeline of new engineers.
The final keynote was delivered by Jay Vogler, aka Engineezy, bringing a creator’s perspective on mechanical design and storytelling.
An evening at the NASA Space Center
The special Tuesday evening event was held at the NASA Space Center, a fabulous setting that embodies the spirit of pushing the boundaries of engineering.
Get hands on with DriveWorks technology
If you weren’t at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026, you can still get hands-on with our technology at driveworkslive.com. It’s where you’ll find a set of DriveWorks Technology Examples, designed to help you explore the core technologies inside our software. They provide an in-depth look at DriveWorks, giving you a deeper understanding of the technology that powers our design automation, 3D product configurator, and CPQ solutions.
The configurator examples at driveworkslive.com are also a great way to see what’s possible with DriveWorks software in a range of different scenarios. They enable you to get hands-on and see what it is like to use a configurator built using DriveWorks software, and take your website and online sales to the next level. To get the full experience, and really see what DriveWorks technology can do, submit your configurationto view sales documentation and manufacturing data, including quotes, BOMs and SOLIDWORKS parts assemblies and drawings, that can be automatically generated using DriveWorks technology.
See You Next Year!
3DEXPERIENCE World 2027 will be held in Nashville, TN, from February 14-17, 2027. Save the date!