The Transformer

Autodesk creates software for the manufacturing, architecture, building, construction, media and entertainment industries.

Martin Gurren CLIENT SERVICES DIRECTOR AND DUBLIN SITE LEADER, AUTODESK

Dublin is a multi-cultural, creative and open-minded city, which fits really well with our culture.

What are the disrupters facing your industry?

Autodesk makes software for people who make things. If you’ve ever driven a high-performance car, admired a towering skyscraper or used a smartphone, chances are you’ve experienced what millions of Autodesk customers are doing with our software. Today we have a global population of 7.7 billion with 3.5 billion living in cities. Over the next 30 years, it’s expected to grow to nearly 10 billion people – two-thirds of which will live in cities. We will need to build new housing and supporting infrastructure to meet this growing population, as well as maintain, improve and protect our current built environment.

We recently partnered with a firm called Statista to calculate what was needed to meet this demand. As an industry, we’re going to have to build 13,000 buildings every day, and enough roads and rail to wrap around the earth 30 times every year.

As we plan for the inevitability of designing and building more, we need to balance this with the reality of using less. The workforce is changing, with new skills needed in the digital world and many existing workers retiring during this time. Our natural resources are diminishing, and industry must lower its impact on the environment, creating less waste and using less energy. To solve this fundamental capacity issue, we must rethink the way we design, make and build. This is the biggest design opportunity we have ever had.

How are you approaching these opportunities?

We cannot meet these future demands without technology. Automation provides the opportunity to do this better. We automate how things are designed in the digital world and made in the physical world. We help architects simulate how the buildings they design will perform before they’re built, and site workers construct them so they continue to perform after they’re built.

For example, prefabrication and Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) are proven methods of speeding up design and construction processes. Innovations in generative design, machine learning and robots will have a broader, more significant role in helping design and construction teams solve the skills labour gap, and deliver safer, more resilient and sustainable buildings and infrastructure.

How is the Irish talent pool helping to transform Autodesk’s global ambitions?

The Dublin office is the hub for Autodesk EMEA and home to functions ranging from engineering and software localisation, to technical support, client services and inbound sales. Collaborating with our colleagues worldwide are finance and operations, facilities, HR, and recruitment teams.

In addition, we are growing a new team of marketing and business development representatives for construction solutions, supporting the EMEA business. We selected Dublin to host Autodesk’s EMEA headquarters because of its global business environment, access to multilingual talent and quality of life for employees. The success of our team in Ireland is reaffirmed by our recent expansion announcement. We have opened another floor in our offices in 1 Windmill Lane, with the potential to double our capacity to up to 400 staff over the coming years.

How has Ireland changed as a place to work and grow a business?

Ireland has become a much more international place to work. There’s been growth in service-focused industries due to the educated and digitally-focused workforce. There’s also a real strength in talent and diversity. Dublin is a multi-cultural, creative and open-minded city, which fits really well with our culture.

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