Next Generation of Engineering Design Tools: Generative, User-friendly, and AI-powered

This project aims to develop the next generation of computer-aided design (CAD) tools that are user-friendly, generative, and powered by artificial intelligence (AI). Despite decades of technological progress, CAD tools have remained largely unchanged: designing 3D geometries still requires users to manually create hundreds of design features, often leading to a time-consuming process that often takes several days to weeks. Such a manual design process demands highly skilled personnel, limits rapid product iterations, and slows time-to-market.The goal of this project is to develop the next generation of design tools for engineering. Just as chatGPT has transformed how people write text, the goal of these new design tools is to enable users to automatically generate the 3D design of physical products. The market potential is significant, with the CAD software market valued at USD 12 billion. The plan is to offer the generative design tools through a Software-as-a-Service model. The project aims to build a minimal viable product (MPV) by Q2/2026 and address first target markets such as fluid parts, tooling, connectors, and inductors.The project is led by Dr. Manuel Biedermann, who conducted extensive research at ETH Zurich in computational design and digital production. His research addressed the limitations of CAD tools and implemented novel generative design tools for a variety of engineering applications. He used a software-driven approach for CAD that offers significant advantages over state-of-the-art methods such as parametric modeling, topology optimization, and 3D deep learning. The resulting generative design workflows create optimized parts (>50% better performance), reduce manual design time by 90%, are applicable to a wide variety of products, create ready-to-produce 3D designs, and are accessible for non-expert designers using high-level inputs.The BRIDGE funding will allow to transform the research into a beta product of these generative design tools with a user-friendly interface and integrations for selected CAD systems. These design tools will integrate AI-powered functionalities to simplify and accelerate the creation of 3D geometries. The plan is to conduct 3-4 pilot projects with customers that have validated their interest with letters of intent. These pilot projects aim to build generative design workflows tailored for the specific applications of customers, implement and test the design tools, and build plugin integrations for CAD systems.The BRIDGE funding allows to bring these generative design tools to the market, drive innovation in engineering, foster the competitiveness of Swiss companies, and lay the foundation for an new and innovative deep-tech startup.