AU 2013: The Future is Interdisciplinary & Collaborative

From Mike: 

Jeff Kowalski (CTO) started out this year’s Autodesk University mainstage with a quote from Alvin Toffler: “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” For those of us on the Fusion 360 team, we couldn’t agree more. Check out what went down in Vegas at this year’s AU 2013.

After the AU mainstage talk, Keqing and I talked about the implications of what this massive-information-overload world we are living in will mean to Fusion 360 users. Taking advantage on a network of online commodity data to free up time to innovate on that which couldn’t be replicated. Using crowd sourcing to solve complex problems. Using cloud-based data sharing to unite teams across continents. The reality is so many of the tangible examples that Carl Bass (CEO) and Jeff Kowalski gave about how things will be done in the future are already being done today by Fusion 360 users. 

So, since the Fusion community is at the leading edge of this latest technology vision – does this now mean we just ride the wave and congratulate ourselves on being right? No! As we see this futuristic prophecy become tangible, it tells us that you Fusion 360 users are challenging us to find more ways to partner with you and adapt as you discover even more progressive ways to shape the future of design. You told us to grow the software, reach new users in new technology platforms, and help articulate tangible ways to apply new tools. We hear you and we’re brainstorming now of how to do it.

Fusion 360 VIP Event: Design, Debate & Awards

This week we met with so many of our best and most inspirational users. Many of you participated in a VIP Fusion focus event to tell us where we need to go next. We also wanted to say thank you to these most influential community members.

Special thanks to the visionary panelists:

• Scott Menor, CEO of Roambotics
• Surya Vanka, Director of R&D Microsoft
• Maritza Garcia, Design Student RIT
• Kevin Schneider, Director of Development Fusion 360

A big congratulations to our first Fusion 360 Award winners:

• Anthony Tod – won the Design Award for his 3D printed Halo helmet
• Ron Russell – won the Community Award for being the most helpful and engaging in the Fusion 360 community
• Alex Lobos – won the Education Award for his teaching excellence and educating students at RIT in new ways to design
• Thomas Sederberg – won the Innovation Award for inventing T-Splines technology (!)

And finally, a very big congratulations to the Autodesk Manufacturing Award recipient Stan Hisel, who received the most honored award in all of Autodesk Manufacturing, extending beyond the Fusion Community. All well-earned. 

Favorite moments, friendship, and Fusion funtime

Looking back on the week of I3D and AU we’ve put together a few of our favorite memories:

• Anthony Tod surprising Kat with her very own 3D printed red master chief helmet a the Fusion VIP appreciation lunch.
• Philip Lui and David Perry collaborating on 3D printed instrument design.
• Seeing 60+ computers all running Fusion 360 at the same time during Chris’s I3D session.
• Seeing our Orphanage Guitar rockstars jam out on AU main stage.
• Alex Lobos and Keqing starting off their Fusion 360 modeling class with the music “I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony.”
• Seeing Alex’s tweet about how much he loves his 3D printed Fusion award trophy.
• Epic photo booth pics with everyone during the MFG appreciation dinner.
• Potential disaster turned into an epic Fusion victory when Garin’s machine died and he just switched machines, logged into Fusion, and just went on with the show.
• CEO Carl Bass grabbing a cup of coffee with MFG Award winner Stan Hisel, (but not before they had a chance to preview the new CAM 360 stuff and talk Burning Man together).
• Ed Dorsa from Virginia Tech approaching Colin Smith to tell me that he was “converted” after being sceptical of Fusion 360 when he saw it at IDSA.
• Great open dialog at the Fusion VIP session about feedback on Fusion 360.
• Searching all over Tao Nightclub for Stan Hisel so that he could be presented his award for participation in the community.

What were your favorite moments from AU? Tell us in the comments

In closing, a big, heartfelt thank you goes out again to all of you who took time from your lives to come engage with us and with your newly formed Fusion 360 community. I don’t think any of us thought we’d be this tight-knit so fast. You guys even went so far as to say you think of us as your extended family! We’re absolutely honored. Seeing the interaction and hearing back from you with all your responses it’s obvious that we’ve got something pretty cool going here. 

Thanks everyone and have a great rest of the holiday season!

Mike, Keqing, and the whole Fusion 360 family