#11: Are We Ready for a More Sustainable Future?

Pascal: You're right, Philippine. The 21st century is about thinking in terms of use. The economy is shifting from product to usage. We call it the experience economy. Today, the value is the usage, not anymore the product itself. 

Philippine: And that's exactly the definition of a circular economy.

Pascal: True. It means that innovation consists of inventing sustainable uses. It's not a matter of optimization only. Industries need to create new offerings and operating models. We need to imagine differently, create what-if scenarios, test novel solutions and measure the impacts before implementing decisions. Well, that's precisely what virtual twin experiences do. Virtualization is not digitalizing what already exists. On the contrary, the greatest power is to model possible worlds, to make better choices and to collaborate before springing into action.

Philippine: Indeed. And it's important to keep in mind that 3D technology was born for sustainability. It's a legacy, and it's in its DNA. It was first used for virtual prototyping, for doing things right the first time around while saving time, materials and energy. And this is why sustainability today is the key to our purpose and the key to our DNA in the company.

Pascal: The purpose of Dassault Systèmes is to harmonize product, nature and life. This drives our strategy, the research and development and also how we partner with customers. We believe that industries can be the solution to sustainability, not the problem. By definition, an industry is an organized system to produce something useful, affordable and reproducible for the benefit of all. And we can move beyond the mechanisms of the past centuries to reach a new balance.

Sustainability is about connecting the dots. We make it possible for businesses to balance between their footprint: What they take from the planet to create products or services; and their handprint: The value they give back to the planet and the society. We call this new balance the eco-bill. And this is a new driving principle of the innovation cycle.

Philippine: Exactly. And today, outsourcing waste or reusing waste is not enough. We need to help our customers redesign their waste in order to nurture circularity.
 

Pascal: It's the next generation of PLM — the product lifecycle management of the 21st century. We address the full lifecycle. We link materials, design, engineering, supply, production, distribution, use and end of life. We close the loop, and we use data from experience to reinvent design.

Philippine: Indeed, we close the loop. We can observe today that awareness is increasing. Now, the next step is to make circularity not only desirable but also achievable, scalable and profitable.

Pascal: It's We are committed to making circularity a reality. Actually, we are uniquely positioned to handle sustainability from a product approach to a system approach. Our platform-based, science-based virtual twin experiences are meant for a holistic approach to innovations.

How? First, we bring the 3DEXPERIENCE® platform. We bring the platform phenomenon to sustainability. It's collaborative: To connect the dots between the value network — suppliers, partners and consumers; but it's also a multidisciplinary and multiscale approach. As an example, we can model, simulate and upgrade electrical vehicles using materials science, mechanics, electromagnetism, chemistry and biology.

Philippine: And indeed, our foundation in science is a powerful differentiator for our customers because science is both an instrument of measure and an inspiration for creativity.
 

Pascal: Dassault Systèmes is a science-based company and this makes a major difference in the market. We are the only player to provide a combination of modeling, simulation and data science at the same time. And we apply predictive AI to circularity, to design materials, as you say, to design the waste also, to predict the impact of products, to trace materials across the supply chain and to predict costs. I would like to emphasize that we use our AI engines as a tool to elevate gigantic data into structured knowledge and know-how, and this is the most precious asset for our customers. 

Philippine: Indeed, and speaking of science, we also provide unique capabilities for cyber system engineering. And this is crucial because, in a circular economy, innovators need to think in terms of systems of systems. Circularity encompasses materials, products and enterprise.

Pascal: This is why we offer virtual twin experiences of the what, the who and the how: The what is the making of the products and services, including materials; the who is the company itself and its value networks; and the how is the production systems. The leaders in sustainability will be those who empower the workforce of the future with knowledge and know-how. Working with customers, we want to catalyze and enable an industry renaissance worldwide.

Philippine: Thank you so much, Pascal.

Narrator: Disruptors Unleashed is produced by Dassault Systèmes. For more episodes, follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, or your nearest streaming platforms. To learn more about Dassault Systèmes, visit us at 3ds.com.