Over 600 design and engineering professionals, students, creative hobbyists and design enthusiasts attend third edition of event
UAE, December 24th, 2014 – Omnix International, a leading distributor of Autodesk design software in the UAE, announced that the third edition of Autodesk University Extension (AUx) Dubai 2014, the Middle East region’s premier learning and networking event for design and engineering professionals, concluded on a high note and generated overwhelming response from an attendance of more than 600 participants. The event, which was held at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), saw the participation of customers, partners, students, creative evangelists, design and engineering professionals and educators from the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, Manufacturing Media and Entertainment industries. Omnix International reported a 20 per cent increase in exhibitors. The third edition of the event was supported by top IT brands like Lenovo (Platinum), HP (Gold), Canon (Gold), Dell, NVIDIA, and AGA CAD (Silver).
The event served as a strategic and unique platform for participants to ‘Learn, Connect, Explore’ through activities that included interactive workshops, demonstrations, knowledge sessions and an exhibition. This year, AUx Dubai simultaneously hosted a separate ‘BIM Leadership Forum’ that also drew large attendance from leading architectural firms and consultants. The daylong event saw presentations and lectures coming from leading technical specialists and Autodesk customer conducted sessions around on Autodesk technologies and demonstrated novel applications of design technology. Notable speakers present were Lynn Allen, Technical Evangelist, Autodesk; Robert Green, Owner, Robert Green Consulting; Gerry McFadden, BIM Manager, WSP Group and Alex Horst, Product Specialist, Autodesk.
In addition to these engaging talks and presentations, over 30 students and professionals from design and engineering received free certifications for the latest versions of Autodesk software like in Autodesk® Revit® Architecture, Autodesk® AutoCAD Civil 3D®, AutoCAD®, Autodesk® 3ds Max®, Autodesk® Inventor® Professional. The event also hosted a special student competition under the theme, ‘Smart Infrastructure – Future of Making Cities.’ The final shortlisted teams were from SAE Institute and University of Sharjah, with the team from SAE Institute wining the competition.
“We are very pleased with the overwhelming response that we have received for this year’s Autodesk University Extension Dubai, which continued to live up to its commitment of leading the way towards more design awareness in the UAE and the rest of the region,” said Dr. Jayant Deshpande, Director CAE Division, Omnix International. “This event has helped in establishing a creative forum for the design ecosystem in the Middle East and highlights the importance of design technology in addressing unique challenges in the region. Rest assured, we will remain steadfast in our commitment to work closely with Autodesk in helping develop a highly creative economy in the region.”
Sam N. Husseini, Middle East Channel Business Development Manager, FARO, said, “This is indeed an excellent platform for cross-industry knowledge sharing in the area of design. Our participation here reflects the strategic relationship that we have maintained with Autodesk. In fact, we had also just participated at the Autodesk University in Las Vegas. The AEC segment is a big market for FARO and people are still getting to know more about Laser Scanning technology in the Middle East and our presence here at AUx Dubai has helped raise the awareness in laser scanning technology, as it is extremely useful for the AEC and O&G segments.”
Lim Say Leong, ThinkStation Product Manager, Lenovo, said “Middle East Design professionals stand to benefit immensely from such forums, which highlight new trends and technologies in their respective industries. AUx Dubai 2014 has been a very effective forum and event for our Middle East customers. We are happy with the response that we have received from launching the P-series Thinkstation for architects Engineers and designers from the AEC industry. The event surely gave us a lot of exposure to our target market, the AEC segment.”
“The innovative work showcased by customers at AUx Dubai shows how design has evolved globally– both in depth and in scale across various industry segments. We were also part of AU Las Vegas and we believe such an event is very important for us in the Middle East. We transform the insights of cutting edge BIM users into powerful tools that all clients can acquire. We are showcasing add-on solutions for Engineers, Designers and architects from the AEC industry. This year’s edition has helped us meet our target market from the AEC industry in the Middle East,” concluded Jokubas Vaisvila, BIM Application Engineer, AGA CAD Ltd, TOOLS 4 BIM Developer.