Dassault Systèmes and Hokkaido University Establish Academic Partnership

University to employ CATIA V5 and CAA V5 in research and development project

Tokyo, Japan and Paris, France – July 8, 2004 – Dassault Systèmes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) announced today at the Japanese CATIA Forum in Tokyo an academic partnership with Hokkaido University. Through the partnership, Hokkaido researchers will use Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions from Dassault Systèmes to develop cutting-edge styling solutions.

University researchers will base their application development on Dassault Systèmes’ Component Architecture Application (CAA) V5 as part of the university’s e-Design for Styling in the Next Generation project. The project’s mission is to develop next-generation interfaces and prototypes for embedded software applications used in devices such as cell phones.

In addition to providing PLM solutions, Dassault Systèmes will provide training and consulting services to facilitate the university’s research activities. The university will also use CATIA V5 for two new courses for engineering students, Digital Geometric Modeling and Mechanical Simulation.

The styling project is part of the Sapporo IT Carrozeria program, which was launched two years ago by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport, Science and Technology.

“We decided to adopt CATIA V5 and CAA V5 because they provide the latest PLM technologies and also because leading companies worldwide have adopted them,” said Satoshi Kanai, associate professor in the Department of Systems Science and Informatics at Hokkaido University. “Dassault Systèmes’ solutions offer a combination of usability and powerful design and development capabilities.”

“Hokkaido University’s adoption of CATIA V5 and CAA V5 will provide yet another opportunity for a world-class institution of higher learning to demonstrate the power and flexibility of Dassault Systèmes PLM solutions,” said Francis Bernard, advisor to the president, Dassault Systèmes. “We believe the marriage between Dassault Systèmes’ technology and Hokkaido University’s next-generation research will usher in a new era of innovation in the creation of interfaces and prototypes for embedded software applications.”