Umea Institute of Design Purchases 500 Licenses of SolidWorks Education Edition to Launch...

CONCORD, Mass. -- Swedish design institute switches to SolidWorks, citing short learning curve, ease of use, and preference for software that students will use as professionals

Umea Institute of Design, part of the University of Umea in Sweden, has standardized on 500 licenses of SolidWorks(R)

Education Edition 3D mechanical design software to help students more quickly gain proficiency with the tools they will use in their professional careers. Students will also be introduced to COSMOSWorks(R) design analysis software, included in the SolidWorks software package.

The Umea Institute of Design is one of the top-ranking and most popular industrial design educational institutions in Sweden. It offers highly competitive, professional, and international industrial design educational programs in close cooperation with industry. External lecturers from the design profession and business community provide valuable links between classroom learning and the world of design practice.

Umea Institute of Design switched to SolidWorks to satisfy students' and faculty's need for a more easy-to-use design package. It also chose SolidWorks because of its extensive use by Swedish companies.

"Why spend students' valuable learning time on a complicated tool they are unlikely to use after they graduate?" said Tomas Lindehell, a computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided industrial design (CAID) teacher and engineer. "Our goal is to get students up to speed in their design work quickly without investing too much time learning the software itself. We're confident students will learn faster and easier with SolidWorks. And most of our students start their careers in companies that have elected to use SolidWorks for many of the same reasons we have. Also, we do a lot of rapid prototyping, and SolidWorks is much easier to use in that process. Moreover, easy file transferring to and from Alias, Rhino, and other CAID packages made the choice of SolidWorks even easier. In other words, SolidWorks will save us time, and students will learn more on the software they'll use in their careers."

The 15-year-old institute follows other leading engineering/technical universities in Sweden that recently purchased SolidWorks, including the Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University, and Malardalen University.

Umea Institute of Design serves approximately 100 industrial design students in a bachelor's degree program, three master's degree programs (transportation design, advanced product design, and interaction design), and doctorate studies. The master's degree programs, taught in English, are open for all nationalities. The industrial design courses are keyed to the planning and design of industrial products, product systems, and complete environments. Since the industrial designer must be well-acquainted with industrial working methods and with different fields, the focus is product design with emphasis on usage. Students in these programs work closely with industry, including major Scandinavian companies like ABB, Ericsson, Electrolux, IKEA, Nokia, Saab, Volvo Cars, and Volvo Trucks to carry out 30 to 40 major projects a year.

The software purchase was a joint initiative with the Umea University's Institute of Technology, which enrolls 1,100 students who will also be able to use the software. Starting in August, the institute began using SolidWorks in all of its CAD programs. Bachelor's degree students will also be introduced to SolidWorks' COSMOSWorks design analysis software, which then will be used in projects or research as the possibility arises.

"The closer the partnership between a university and the manufacturing community the more valuable SolidWorks and COSMOSWorks are to emerging designers and engineers," said Rosanne Kramer, director of worldwide education markets for SolidWorks Corporation. "SolidWorks puts students on the fast track with an intuitive interface, short learning curve, and a major presence in the companies likely to hire them."

Umea Institute of Design works with authorized SolidWorks reseller MP Engineering AB for ongoing software training, implementation, and support.

About Umea Institute of Design

Umea Institute of Design, at the University of Umea in Sweden, was founded in 1989. It provides four academic programs focusing exclusively on industrial design and related specializations. Programs range from bachelor to masters and doctoral levels. The bachelor program offers a broad basis and a general competence in handling design problems within many different product areas. At master level, specialized programs are available in transportation design, advanced product design, and interaction design. Characteristics of the education are close co-operation with industry in realistic projects, and a creative study environment in newly built facilities with a high quality of equipment. For more information, visit www.dh.umu.se.

About MP Engineering

MP Engineering was founded in 1991 and today has 13 years of experience in CAD/CAM/CAE and PDM. With five regional offices and more than 30 employees, the company is one of the key resellers in the Swedish territory. MP Engineering's key focus is to meet their customers' various needs and help them increase their productivity through support, consulting, and training. Their strength is the comprehensive support function offered - a majority of the technicians and salesmen are highly skilled with a background in mechanical design or engineering. Products distributed include SolidWorks, SMARTEAM, EdgeCAM, and COSMOSWorks. For more information, visit www.mpengineering.se.

About SolidWorks Corporation

SolidWorks Corporation, a Dassault Systemes S.A. (Nasdaq: DASTY, Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) company, develops and markets software for mechanical design, analysis, and product data management. It is the #1 supplier of 3D mechanical design software for the mainstream market. SolidWorks leads the market in number of users in production, customer satisfaction, and revenue. For the latest news, information, or a live online demonstration, visit the company's Web site (www.solidworks.com) or call 1-800-693-9000 (outside of North America, call +1-978-371-5000).

SolidWorks is a registered trademark of SolidWorks Corporation. COSMOSWorks is a registered trademark of Structural Research and Analysis Corporation. Other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright (c) 2004 SolidWorks Corporation.