Dassault Systèmes launches a contest for students to rethink the use of plastics

Dassault Systèmes has launched the “Sustainability Challenge,” a contest inviting students worldwide to use the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to imagine new innovations and experiences that redefine the use of plastics in a more sustainable way. In a world where 220 million tons of plastic are produced each year, the Sustainability Challenge – developed in collaboration with the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation – aims to further the innovation of a circular economy for plastics by enabling students to exercise skills in design, engineering and value proposition creation with 3D digital technology.

Dassault Systèmes’ industrial customers already use the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to create new biomaterials, smarter manufacturing methods, and optimized packaging design aimed to reduce the environmental impacts of plastic. The Sustainability Challenge extends such opportunities to students in design, engineering, business or communications. They can rely on the same digital design, engineering and collaboration applications in the cloud to accelerate learning, understanding and inventing, and to help design a world in which plastic is used in the right place and in a sustainable manner.

Each team participating in the contest gains access to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to develop a project in one of three areas -

* Streamline: Re-engineer a product’s shape so that it uses less plastic

* Remake: Design a concept to transform a disposable product into a reusable one, or one that lasts longer or is easier to disassemble for repair and recycling than existing products

* Link: Build or optimize a physical and social network to increase rate of repair, secondary use, and product recycling rates

Projects will be evaluated on multiple criteria including creativity; social, environmental and economic impacts; execution and effectiveness; and the use of 3D technology.