COFES 2019 Charts the Future of Technology

President of Tech-Clarity, Inc. and COFES conference co-chair and moderator, Jim Brown spoke about the COFES Conference, Congress of on the Future of Engineering, which is to be held in Silicon Valley this year April 7-April 10. While COFES has traditionally been held over a weekend, this year it will take place on business days.

“What COFES has always been is a group of highly engaged people who explore how software helps AEC and manufacturing define the future,” says Brown. This year “convergence” is the theme, and there will be discussions on how to transform and expand, as well as take on different disciplines.

On the website COFES is described as:

• a think tank where great minds come together to discuss best practices and to share ideas for managing change
• a technology summit that promotes discussion and problem-solving among industry thought-leaders, analysts and customers
• a business event that delivers practical strategies for achieving financial success in the engineering and design technology sector
• an informal environment where business leaders and technology providers can meet to identify and address key industry issues and challenges

Design now has to take into consideration so much more, such as self-driving cars, artificial intelligence and reality capture. We need software that interacts with the self, and knows how well that software interacts with the systems of systems.

“This is the world that’s coming,” says Brown. “What is software offering to have a lifelike simulation of people walking through a building, or how do we understand airflow across a city while considering building? There are such opportunities for tools to come together and help people understand different aspects.”

The whole area of integration of different pieces of building software is key to looking at design today. “People are using 3D printing, generative design and artificial intelligence to come up with different designs. The Internet of Things (IoT) isn’t new, it was introduced ten years ago. All of these technologies are becoming commercially viable and converging, such as generative design and 3D printing, for example.”

The question continues, how do we use software?

Setting COFES 2019 in Silicon Valley makes sense as the future is happening in that location, according to Brown. There are a number of non-traditional, entrepreneurial companies who are located there or in the vicinity.

The agenda is being finalized, but those movers and shakers of the technology industry who have been on the cutting edge, founding software companies and then forming new software companies, will most likely be in attendance. The event also attracts venture capitalists.

Those who have been in the industry for some time have seen many platform shifts and can rethink the underlying problems, the product and the business model, and come up with something that better fits the new capabilities of our time.

Among the keynoters are Jay Vleeschhouwer, managing director of Griffin Securities. Vleeschhouwer has over 33 years of research analyst experience in the technology sector, including software, computer hardware and imaging technology; formerly senior analyst at Merrill Lynch, Josephthal Lyon & Ross, Bear Stearns, and Cantor Fitzgerald. His work has been recognized on numerous occasions in the annual Institutional Investor and Greenwich Associates rankings of analysts. He has been invited to present at various industry and corporate conferences and events on his perspectives of the software and imaging technology industries, and media appearances (Bloomberg, CNBC, Fox Business). Mr. Vleeschhouwer received his B.A degree, in Economics and Political Science, from the University of California, Los Angeles, and his M.B.A. degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Joe Walsh founded intrinSIM in late 2009 with the intention of enabling rapid next generation application development for engineering software and co-founded the ASSESS Initiative in mid-2016 to significantly increase the usage and benefit of Engineering Simulation. Mr. Walsh brings nearly 40 years of experience, expertise, relationships and collaborations in the CAE, CAD, interoperability and component software industries. Prior to founding intrinSIM, He was the VP of Business Development for Simmetrix where he was responsible for sales, marketing and business relationships. Before joining Simmetrix he was VP of Worldwide Sales for IronCAD LLC, VP of North American Sales for DS/Spatial and Spatial Corp., Partner and Founder of New Renaissance, President/CEO and co-founder of FEGS Inc. the North American subsidiary of FEGS, Ltd. of Cambridge UK, President/CEO of PAFEC Inc. the North American subsidiary of PAFEC Ltd. of Nottingham UK, Director of Engineering Applications for Clevenger Corporation and Mr. Walsh has 8+ years in engineering analysis positions specializing in CAD/CAE integration, CAE automation, and design optimization. Joe Walsh holds an Architectural Engineering degree from Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Peter Thorne, director of Cambashi. Peter’s research focuses on the business needs of engineering and manufacturing organizations, and the way these needs are addressed by information and communications technology.

His client assignments include strategic, forecasting, and segmentation projects including the role of industry networks; tools and processes for product development and introduction; and focused analysis of the market for systems engineering and embedded software development tools. He works closely with IT vendors, providing them with independent expertise to match their products and services to real industry needs, and use evidence-based approaches for marketing planning.

Peter has applied information technology to engineering and manufacturing enterprises for more than 30 years, holding development, marketing and management positions with both user and vendor organisations. Immediately prior to joining Cambashi, he spent seven years as head of the UK arm of a global IT vendor’s Engineering Systems Business Unit, which grew from a small R&D group to a multi-million pound profit centre under his leadership.

Sponsors include TechSoft 3D, Dell and Microsoft.

COFES 2019 will be held in the beautiful Hotel Nia in Menlo Park, right next door to Facebook Headquarters.  COFES Institute

Tags: 3D cities, AEC, architects, Autodesk, COFES 2019, collaboration, construction, design, e-Builder, engineering, generative design, infrastructure, laser scanning, mobile, Open BIM, point clouds, reality capture, visualization

Categories: 2D, 3D, architecture, Autodesk, Bentley Systems, BIM, building information modeling, Cloud, collaboration, construction, construction project management, consumerization, convergence, engineering, field, field solutions, file sharing, infrastructure, integrated project delivery, interactive display, Internet of Things, lidar, mobile, mobile printing, point clouds, reality capture, rendering, simulation, site planning, sustainable design, video, virtual reality, visualization, wearable devices

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