IBM’s HEAT program is helping industry meet its demand for skilled engineers and outsourcing for R&D programs. In this section we will share breaking news regarding Academia/Industry collaborations.

Click here to learn more about this program.

The rapid expansion of CATIA and CATIA-related technology has created a great demand for skilled engineers. Education organizations have had difficulty satisfying the demand. With this in mind the IBM PLM Solutions Department with support and help from Dassault Systemes developed the Higher Education and Training (HEAT) Program. The purpose of this "investment" Program is to provide very attractive materials and pricing to Colleges and Universities to enable them to fulfill the many requests from students and instructors to use the CATIA state-of-the-art CAD/CAM/CAE system, and thereby help alleviate the shortage of skilled CATIA operators. The HEAT Program also gives the colleges the opportunity to choose CATIA software which was previously viewed "too expensive" leading many schools to use the less costly competitive systems.

In order to meet the stiff competition of other CAD companies, and they all have well-established, aggressive programs to have colleges use their software, the HEAT Program was developed to provide all the necessary products, services, and benefits to establish a leading edge CAD curriculum using CATIA.

The HEAT Program for Colleges (and now High Schools) offers for curriculum use:

1. CATIA for a nominal fee
2. Free Courseware
3. Free Training for instructors
4. CBT (COMPANION)
5. Support
6. ACADEMIC TRACK at COE and registration fee discounts to HEAT members.

"Research and Development" and Industry Training" licenses for CATIA are also part of the HEAT Program with different terms and conditions. CATIA R&D licenses are in use at Stanford University, and M.I.T. and many others are part of this program. The Industry Training part of the HEAT Program is subject to the approval of the local IBM Business Partner since they have responsibility for CATIA Training and have substantial investments in resources to do so.

Customers using CATIA love the HEAT Program and IBM Business Partners are also very supportive, along with the entire PLM Solutions staff and field force.

The investment of all these resources in the HEAT Program have increased the number of schools with CATIA from 7 in mid-year 1997, when the program was announced, to 110 at the end of 2000.

Colleges that have been using CATIA for many years such as Georgia Tech, Wichita State University, and Fox Valley Community College in Wisconsin, along with newcomers to the HEAT Program such as California State University at Los Angeles and College of Aeronautics in New York have been very active in the Academic Track programs at COE since it began in theFall ’98 Conference. Brigham Young University "Allied Signal Project" and Purdue University with the "Digital Enterprise Project" have made excellent presentations at COE. The Purdue Project also includes the ENOVIA Products which are now included in the HEAT package. Oakland Community College has hosted a Regional CATIA Users Group meeting for many years along with numerous technical classes for IBM and Business Partners, thus enhancing the CATIA presence in the area around Chrysler Technical Center. The HEAT Program will continue to grow and thereby benefit the IBM CATIA customers in the local business community, the member schools, and their students and faculty.

For further information about the "HEAT Program", contact information is listed below:

Q. W. (Buz) Nowicki
CATIA Higher Education an Training (HEAT) Program Manager
Product Lifecycle Management Solutions
18000 West Nine Mile Road
Southfield, MI 48075
(248) 552-5981 IBM Tie Line 896-5981 Fax (248) 552-6886
e-mail qnowicki@us.ibm.com