You’re reading Engineering Paper, and here’s the latest news in design and simulation software.
Last week was CES 2026, the massive Vegas tradeshow where tech titans talk ‘nology. Undoubtedly the biggest news from the event was that Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s omnipresent CEO, finally has a new jacket.
Once you get your jaw off the floor, here’s the latest engineering software news from CES and beyond.
Neural Concept launches AI Design Copilot
Engineering AI startup Neural Concept launched a new AI Design Copilot at CES 2026. Fresh off a recent $100 million funding round led by Goldman Sachs, Neural Concept is adding the new feature to its AI-driven product development platform.
“The Copilot is just another step towards our grandest visions,” Pierre Baqué, founder and CEO of Neural Concept, told me. “Our goal is to make engineering much more AI-driven and automated.”
Baqué explained that the AI Design Copilot will strengthen Neural Concept’s geometry generation capabilities. With text prompts, users will be able to generate a set of design variations that can then be simulated in the user’s preferred platform (“we’re integrating with all the big players,” Baqué said, naming STAR-CCM+, the Ansys suite, and OpenFOAM as examples). The simulation results can then be sent back to Neural Concept, which analyzes them to optimize the design even further.
That last part—using AI to better understand design and simulation data—has been Neural Concept’s strength to date, Baqué told me. With the new AI Design Copilot, Neural Concept is looking to bring AI to the beginning of the design process as well.
“We have a platform that is definitely best in class in the world at doing AI with geometric and simulation data,” Baqué said. “And now we are restarting from the start of the process: I’m starting from nothing, and I’m trying to generate a dataset of geometries that can be simulated out of an idea. And this Copilot is really positioning us on that front.”
You can see the AI Design Copilot in action in this brief video from Neural Concept:
Baqué told me that the AI Design Copilot will be rolled out over the current quarter. Select customers who already have access have provided “overwhelmingly positive” feedback, according to Baqué.
“Being able to generate design data and a large number of design variants was always a huge bottleneck in design space exploration,” Baqué said. “And we have really been able to solve that with this Copilot. It allows you to do in an hour or a few hours things that either you could have not have done at all or that would have taken you days of work.”
I’ll be keeping my eye on this story. If you’ve used Neural Concept and want to share your thoughts on the platform, email me at malba@wtwhmedia.com.
Siemens announces Digital Twin Composer
At CES Siemens announced Digital Twin Composer, a new application that connects digital twin models with real-time industrial data.
Part of Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio, Digital Twin Composer takes 2D and 3D models from other Xcelerator software and connects it to data sources such as IIoT sensors, manufacturing execution systems, and quality management systems.
Digital Twin Composer uses Nvidia Omniverse libraries to create photorealistic and up-to-date visualizations of factories, products, or processes. Using a buzzword I thought had faded away, Siemens says the new tool can build “industrial metaverse environments at scale.”
(Speaking of the Omniverse developer, Siemens and Nvidia also announced at CES that they’re working together on AI-driven smart factories. For more on that, read Siemens and Nvidia building next-gen ‘industrial AI operating system’.)
Digital Twin Composer is currently in early access with select customers, including PepsiCo, which has used it to develop digital twins of some of its U.S. manufacturing and warehouse facilities, according to Siemens. You can sign up for the pilot program on Siemens.com.
Bentley’s asset analytics acquisitions
Infrastructure software developer Bentley Systems has announced two new acquisitions: software developer Talon Aerolytics and the intellectual property of drone data analytics company Pointivo. Both will bolster Bentley’s asset analytics portfolio.
“We see massive opportunities in the operation and maintenance space,” James Lee, Bentley’s COO, told me last week. “There are so many existing assets that need to be maintained, and the amount of money that’s being poured into that part of the [infrastructure] lifecycle is quite significant.”
For more details, read Bentley begins 2026 with two new asset analytics acquisitions.
Quick hits
- Synopsys showcased its solutions for software-defined vehicle engineering at CES 2026. Among other announcements, Synopsys has added Samsung’s ISOCELL Auto 1H1 image sensor to Ansys AVxcelerate Sensors, its sensor simulation software.
- PTC has added new AI capabilities to FlexPLM, its PLM software for retail product development. The AI will extract design data to help automatically create tech packs, saving designers time and reducing errors, according to PTC.
One last link
Are you an engineer who loves to travel? A traveler who loves engineering? Or a newsletter reader who loves clicking links?
In any case you won’t want to miss Travel for Engineers, a new video series from Paul Heney, editorial director of Design World. Paul’s a seasoned traveler who can’t put his mechanical engineering mind to rest, even on vacation, so he’s putting it on camera instead. Check out the first episode on YouTube.
Got news, tips, comments, or complaints? Send them my way: malba@wtwhmedia.com.