3DEXPERIENCE 2026: AI Companions and Virtual Twins at the Forefront

Last week, 3DEXPERIENCE World, Dassault Systemes's annual user conference, returned to Houston, Texas, home of NASA's space program. For a few days, the George Brown Convention Center by the Discovery Green and the nearby Hilton Hotel on Lamar Street became the gathering place for SOLIDWORKS, CATIA, and SIMULIA software users, some proudly bearing decade-old conference badges to show their veteran status. 

On day one, Monday February 2, SolidWorks CEO Manish Kumar kicked off the general session. He emerged not from the curtains behind the stage but from among the users seated along the front row. "They never leave me alone ... always 'fix this bug, fix that,'" he quipped, prompting laughter.

Kumar joined the company in 1999 as a software developer, rising through the ranks over the following 2.5 decades to the lead position. That history was evident in the ease with which he could discuss the technical issues and the rapport he had with the users. 

"Some tasks will shrink. Some roles will change. AI is just an engine. You are the driver," said Kumar. If that's the case, SOLIDWORKS users are about to get some driving assistants, in the form of three virtual companions. Dubbed Aura, Leo, and Marie, they're designed to fulfil distinctly different roles. 

Meet Aura, Leo, and Marie

Kumar described Aura as "a friend who you might brainstorm with, even on crazy ideas." Leo is "a friend who can help you convert that idea into a manufacturable design grounded in reality." Marie is "a scientist with a high IQ." The names Leo and Marie were inspired by Leonardo da Vinci and Marie Curie, respectively. Aura is a name chosen for itself by the AI system, revealed Kumar. (For more on the three companions, listen to the podcast here.)

Kumar conducted a live demonstration of Leo, "against the advice of the marketing department," he said. In the demonstration, using natural language prompts to Leo, he was able to extract a 2D profile out of a PDF document and convert it into a 3D model. Kumar also demonstrated the use of a surrogate model to conduct basic analysis on the AI-generated 3D part, assisted by Leo. 

"SOLIDWORKS remains at the core. It's practical, accessible, loved by millions. SOLIDWORKS is also expanding, with simulation, cloud, and analytics, and now, with virtual companions and generative experiences. More importantly, it's expanding without losing its soul--same practicality, same discipline, but with more power," said Pascal Daloz, CEO of Dassault Systemes. 

This year, the conference offered 355 breakout sessions. More than 20 of than focused on AI deployment in the Dassault Systemes portfolio. 

Partnership with NVIDIA for Digital Twins

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang joins Dassault Systemes CEO Pascal Daloz to announce their partnership at 3DEXPERIENCE World 2026. Image courtesy of Dassault Systemes. 

On day two, Tuesday February 3, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang joined Daloz on stage to announce a new partnership. "Because AI is going to become a foundational technology, it's going to become an infrastructure, just like water, electricity, and the internet," said Huang. "CATIA, SIMULIA, DELMIA, BIOVIA ... all these VIAs are going to be built on top of NVIDIA." 

According to the press release from NVIDIA, "Combining Dassault Systèmes’ Virtual Twin technologies with NVIDIA AI infrastructure, open models and accelerated software libraries will establish science-validated Industry World Models, and new ways of working through skilled virtual companions on the agentic 3DEXPERIENCE platform, that empower professionals with new expertise ... NVIDIA is adopting Dassault Systèmes model-based systems engineering (MBSE) to design AI factories, starting with the NVIDIA Rubin platform and integrating into the NVIDIA Omnivers DSX Blueprint for large-scale AI factory deployment." (More on the Dassault Systemes-NVIDIA partnership.)

Huang believes that everything, from a pair of tennis shoes to cars and the robots and factory that build cars, will be software-defined. That aligns with Dassault Systemes's vision. Daloz described the current era as "the generative economy, the world where the virtual is driving the physical, where intellectural property is the true currency."

Huang said, "The type of things you will be building in the future will be impossible without accelerated computing, real-time simulation, and AI ... AI has human in the loop, and that's important. But you will now have AI in the loop, in your [virtual] companions. That AI remembers your preferences, how you like to do things, and it codifies your skills, habits, and domain expertise."

"AI is here for you, not to replace you but to amplify what you do," assured Daloz.