Science in the age of experience - this is how scientific innovation gains momentum

Science today is becoming more challenging than ever. Innovation becomes more complex as scientists deepen and expand their fields of practice. Scientists must draw conclusions from mountains of data, and provide solutions to the most complex questions, despite shrinking budgets and more aggressive schedules.

By Eli Boikis, CEO of Dassault Systèmes Israel

Science today is becoming more challenging than ever. Innovation becomes more complex as scientists deepen and expand their fields of practice. Scientists must draw conclusions from mountains of data, and provide solutions to the most complex questions, despite shrinking budgets and more aggressive schedules. When challenges are great and resources are limited, inefficiency is not an option.

Fortunately, new digital tools and techniques are helping scientists explore the molecular world and better understand the microscopic world, ushering them into a new era of innovation. From atoms to aircraft, large-scale design to pharmaceuticals, we are in an era where the integration of modeling and simulation of biology, chemistry and materials provides scientists with the support they need to advance discoveries and knowledge. Scientific research is no longer limited by the physics of the real world.

Big data, cost reduction thanks to digital modeling, and fast computing, make it possible to reinvent the way scientists conduct research. In addition, research questions that used to be raised and worked on in isolation can now be worked with colleagues within the field and from different fields through collaborative cloud-based platforms. In this way, it is possible to break down the walls of separate repositories of data and expertise, and provide a uniform infrastructure for collecting and sharing knowledge.

The way in which this knowledge is shared has also changed. The use of three-dimensional (3D) models, augmented reality and virtual reality, allows others to actually experience science first hand, instead of through texts, tables and graphs. This is true whether science deals with the structure of a nano particle, the function of an organ in the human body, the changing climate of the Earth, or the secrets of the universe being discovered in distant stars.

One of the essential changes in the world of science is the merging of the micro and macro world - the particles and the everyday world. Everyday experiences are often described through a macro lens. However there is a hidden micro world that supports these life experiences. Digital scientific development now allows scientists, engineers and product developers to harness the macro and micro world at the same time.

The results of these changes can be seen in the field of materials engineering. In the past, development of new materials took years from discovery to commercial availability, and these materials were usually found in nature. But the demand for rapid innovation and better performing products has risen beyond the performance envelope of existing materials. Science has responded by developing engineered materials, for which quantum structures and properties can be synthesized to meet diverse macro-level performance goals. Today, it is possible to plan the development of new materials according to their application, with simulation and analytics for predictive purposes, to ensure desired action. In addition, designing and engineering products requires the abilities, talent and thinking of many experts, all of whom need to communicate effectively to ensure that everyone is working on the same set of knowledge and towards the same goals, and digitization makes this possible.

Dassault Systèmes' BIOVIA solution improves materials engineering by enabling end users to design and select certain molecules, biology and materials, and improve their application through simulation modeling and predictive analytics to produce smart coatings, lighter and stronger composites, and environmentally friendly polymers. Technology is rapidly approaching the point of using matter as a variable rather than a constant.

Breaking the boundaries of planning

Product development has reached a critical point where there is a drift in a new direction - occurring outside the world of software - which affects the way we look at product design and engineering.

This "something" is the achievement of additive manufacturing (AM). The technology (also known as 3D printing) has been around for a while. But it is no longer limited to building prototypes, but can also produce final parts and finished products. While AM ​​is not expected to replace all traditional manufacturing processes, it can certainly complement some of them, especially in ways that improve supply chain efficiency. It also offers completely new levels of design freedom, allowing engineers to think outside the box in very creative ways. It is possible to significantly reduce the number of parts, reduce the weight of a product with an internal mesh structure that contains cavities - which maintains the strength of the part or product and even increases it, print circuits inside the product, optimize everything - from medical equipment adapted to the patient to personal consumer products - and more.

But it is important to remember that as a rule the envelope of planning expands in such exciting ways, it expands in both directions: outward to the macro, final products, but also down to the micro level of the molecules that make up the product. As a result, the need to predict product behavior becomes more important as processes such as additive manufacturing - which unites and combines materials in new ways, often using very high temperatures, enter the production picture. The unification of materials science and engineering, through virtual product engineering and performance simulation, bridges the gap between the micro and macro worlds, enabling the formation of atom-to-product design and optimization.

The advantages of combining planning and simulation are clear and have been known for some time - no matter what the final production method is going to be; The entire product development process improves when you combine simulation with planning, and optimization is the icing on the cake. When verifying and improving the design, and switching between the various parameters, this is done on the basis of the results of optimization that occurs in real time.

With the availability of these tools, there is a growing need to move to what we call "additive manufacturing thinking," which affects the way design is thought about and perceived. The design envelope is no longer static. Of course, there is still a need for human input for surfaces and for fixed points such as boreholes, but everything else within the design space is now available to software tools to suggest the optimal design.

Dassault Systèmes stood up to the challenge brought by this concept of free planning. Regardless of the technology used for production, a finished product must still perform to the highest level of customer satisfaction. To achieve this goal, the creative design of any organic part needs to be translated back into the geometry of a CAD file, and this is because CAD data still drives everything from high levels of simulation (drop tests, crashes, etc.) to manufacturing - it is not It doesn't matter if you are dealing with plastic injection or metal processing.

Similar to the way technology allows economies to move from producing products and services to providing multidimensional and meaningful experiences, digital technologies are changing science into a more dynamic and comprehensive experience. They eliminate the need for routine operations, and allow to release the curiosity and creativity that are at the heart of the scientific process. For this, it is necessary to adopt "additive manufacturing thinking" which affects the way we think about end-to-end design, from the molecules to the finished product. We are now more equipped than ever to do this, better imagine the world and finished products, simulate them, and make reality better. Welcome to science in the age of experiences.