In modern society, corporations that survive the "war of speed" gain a competitive edge. Coupang, which delivers products at dawn the next day if you order today, and artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots like ChatGPT, which give answers within seconds after you enter a question, are representative examples. However, in many corporations, design data, manufacturing know-how, and meeting materials are still scattered across the organization, causing delays in decision-making.
On the 3rd (local time), at the 3DExperience World 2026 press conference in Houston, Texas, Morgan Zimmermann, CEO of Dassault Systèmes 3DExperience, presented "knowledge virtualization" as a solution to the fragmentation of information within corporations. Through knowledge virtualization, which integrates and manages distributed workplace knowledge on an AI platform, the goal is to increase the speed at which corporations solve problems and help them manage flows of uncertainty such as personnel, capital, war, and logistics.
Zimmermann said, "Corporations must use all the knowledge and know-how accumulated from the past as fuel to survive the 'competition of speed.'" In knowledge virtualization, AI explores and connects the knowledge and know-how of corporations and supports work by using them to create new products and designs.
He said, "If corporations virtualize all workplace knowledge and know-how, a virtual companion (AI assistant) can support all tasks," adding, "The virtual companion can create new products and designs based on accumulated collective experience."
Zimmermann argued that knowledge virtualization can also solve the data shortage facing corporations. He said, "In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), data is more important than algorithms, but the data that can actually be used for training is decreasing," explaining, "This is because access to public data has become difficult under the pretext of protecting intellectual property (IP)." He added, "But if you generate physically realistic synthetic data in a virtual environment, you can start predictive training even for products that have not yet been released."
Zimmermann cited a nuclear power plant construction site involving $40 million in assets and millions of metadata as an example. He said that by combining Dassault Systèmes' virtual twin technology with the plant's design, construction, and procurement data, you can optimize the commissioning sequence of the plant. An AI assistant will, for example, alert you that a heat exchanger has not been installed or find the tasks among vast amounts of data that engineers should focus on.
Also, when corporations face supply chain shocks, AI instantly calculates the "impact of $3.3 billion in losses," a report that previously would have required dozens of employees to run Excel over several days to figure out. Based on this report, the chief financial officer (CFO) decides which products take priority, and the purchasing manager can immediately identify problematic parts or factors in the supply chain and find alternatives.
Zimmermann said, "All of this shows how important speed is to decision-making," adding, "To help corporations increase their problem-solving speed, Dassault Systèmes will support knowledge virtualization."
Dassault Systèmes also introduced the case of Molteni Group, an Italian luxury furniture company that has embarked on knowledge virtualization through its 3DExperience platform. Molteni Group said it virtualized furniture-making know-how that had existed only in the minds of furniture artisans and had been passed down through apprenticeships, speeding up furniture production and the learning speed of new designers to improve work efficiency. Founded in 1934, Molteni Group recently began an enterprise-wide digital transformation.
Andrea Roero, chief information officer (CIO) of Molteni Group, said, "Our goal is to expand the business without giving up quality and craftsmanship," adding, "Molteni has multiple brands and factories across Italy, but because the company's systems remained stuck 70 years in the past, we have not fully enjoyed economies of scale." He said they focused on digitizing outdated systems and promoting knowledge virtualization to maintain product quality while accelerating time to launch.
Roero said, "To gain an edge in competition with high-end furniture manufacturers that still stick to traditional methods, we must shorten lead time across the entire supply chain," adding, "We chose Dassault Systèmes' solutions, including SolidWorks, because they dramatically increase product time to market."