Andrew Anagnost, President and CEO of Autodesk gave the keynote at the general session of the second Autodesk University 2021 Virtual in October. He spoke of how customers and employees had to experience a decade of change in 18 months that some were not ready for. “Even before social distancing and remote – platforms were connecting consumers and producers, and mobile devices were bringing everyone together,” said Anagnost. “Sometimes it’s felt like technology has kept us apart. We saw human ingenuity at a greater pace and scale. We face uncertainty. You make things that make tomorrow a better place. Everyone here are innovators and solve big and small problems, and technology is a force multiplier of your ingenuity.
Deltek announced recently its acquisition of ArchiSnapper – a SaaS and mobile application designed to help architects and engineers automate field reports, easily create digital site inspection and improve collaboration.
This past week NVIDIA announced the NVIDIA RTX A2000 at SIGGRAPH 2021, a redefinition of the mainstream, professional GPU, which expands access to the power of NVIDIA RTX and represents an expansion of the NVIDIA Omniverse.
At a technical session held at the Virtual Esri User Conference 2021, in July, entitled “GIS + BIM for AEC Project Delivery & Operations,” expert presenters Steven Santovasi, Erika Boccian, Rafael Lucero and Anthony Renteria provided a look at the value of BIM and GIS for project delivery as well as for other aspects of AEC, such as schedule data, asset lifecycle management and the features of the upcoming ArcGIS GeoBIM.
Recently, Bentley Systems presented a webinar entitled, “Using the Power of Digital Twins to Reimagine the Future of Infrastructure” at the EFCG Tech Leadership Conference online.
Presenters Steve Cockerell, Industry Marketing Director, Transportation, and Kat Flesh, Senior Director Transportation, both of Bentley Systems, spoke on their findings from working with some of Bentley’s most visionary users.
Kat Flesh, Bentley Senior Director Transportation
They provided an update on what has been achieved so far, and what is being planned by owners and supply chains of assets that support nearly every aspect of our lives today. For example, roads, rail and transit, bridges, water systems, and smart cities. Cockerell and Flesh also explored the innovative ideas that are shaping the infrastructure business for a better tomorrow.
Steve Cockerell, Bentley Industry Marketing Director, Transportation
“Population growth rates vary across different regions, but we’re still talking about 2 billion additional people on the planet in the next 20 to 30 years,” Cockerell said. “The United Nations predicts that the future of the world’s population is urban. Today, over 55% of the world’s population live in urban areas, but by the middle of the century that number will go up to 68%. In America, the number is already 80%, and I think this will place a huge strain on our infrastructure assets. Most of the impact will be on our roads and railways as these networks are the only way to keep our cities and countries moving.”
This week Hungarian-based Graphisoft held their Graphisoft Global Press Briefing, with CEO Huw Roberts introducing the next generation of solutions and services, basically what’s new in Archicad, BIMcloud, and BIMx.
Bret Tushaus, Vice President, Product Management for Deltek, spoke with AECCafe Voice this week about their recent announcement, together with AIA, to deliver a new solution to the AEC industry this September, called Deltek Specpoint. The solution is an all-in-one specification and design automation tool that will be the new home of AIA MasterSpec®. Specpoint will help architects and engineers reduce risks and improve project outcomes with the combination of its innovative approach to authoring specifications and the industry proven content provided via MasterSpec.
Trimble (SketchUp) has integrated V-Ray, a leading rendering application for architectural visualization from Chaos, into SketchUp Studio. SketchUp software is a popularly used 3D modeling software and design platform for architects, engineers and construction (AEC) professionals. The integration makes it possible for users to generate high-quality renderings directly within Trimble’s SketchUp Studio.
While Bentley Systems has had an Academic Program for some time, it has been reawakened, according to Katriona Lord-Levins, chief success officer at Bentley. “It has been brought into the times we’re in, and to meet the needs that we have to create a talent pipelines for our customers and ourselves,” said Lord-Levins. “Not only do we want to help students develop their engineering skills that will help them in the real world, but we also want to get people excited about the possibilities of the future.”
According to company materials from Cityzenith, 70% of the world’s carbon emissions come from cities, and digital twin technology may hold the key to reversing this.
Lamina Tower, Saudi Arabia
A recent Markets & Markets report estimated the Digital Twin market would grow from $3.1 billion in 2020 to $48.2 billion per year by 2026, at an annual CAGR of 58%. Digital Twin software is already revolutionizing industries such as Construction, Energy, Architecture, Aerospace, and Automotive & Transportation.
