The Dassault Systemes Success Story – Part 1

Recently I had the good fortune of getting to know Francis Bernard, better known as the “Father of CATIA”. I was introduced to him by email by a common acquaintance. After exchanging a couple of emails with him I knew that I wanted to interview him, preferably in person. Francis retired from Dassault Systemes in 2006 and I couldn’t see an opportunity on the horizon to meet him in my travels. I guess the best way to tell a person’s story is to stay quiet and let the person do it himself. So I asked him to send me his thoughts.

This series is titled “Dassault Systemes Success Story” and is written in the first person by Francis Bernard himself.

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The Dassault Systemes Success Story

By Francis Bernard

Dassault Systemes Co-Founder (1981), President (1981-1995) and Member of the Board (1995-2006)

The world has dramatically changed in the last 50 years. Thankfully, we have had a long period of peace, following the first and the second world wars. During this time we seen two major evolutions:

• The Information Technology Revolution: An incredible change in our professional and private lives with computer, software and telecommunication technologies.
• Globalization: The end of the cold war in the late 80’s gradually erased borders, opening up market opportunities for alliances and unbelievable mixing of cultures.

To this favorable environment, I will add a third component. After my graduation from the French Aerospace University (Supaero) in 1967, I started my professional life as a young engineer in one of the most innovative companies in the world – Dassault Aviation. This was the right place to reap the benefits of the two evolutions mentioned above.

My professional life has been like a dream. It gave me the opportunity to become the “father” of one of the most famous software products in the world – CATIA, and the founder of one of the greatest success story of the last 30 years in the software industry: the Dassault Systèmes  company.

I am going to outline this story…

Part 2 >>