A Strategic Partnership: Accessing Cutting-Edge Product-Development Tools
Partnership: OceanHub Africa & Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Lab
Core Focus: Industrial-grade design, simulation, and hardware validation
Ocean Impact Area: Ocean-tech engineering and infrastructure development
Many blue ventures are not held back by a lack of ideas, but by the cost and complexity of proving that a hardware or science-based solution will actually work. For startups building in ocean monitoring, coastal infrastructure, or aquaculture systems, technical validation often becomes a “death valley” long before commercial traction has a chance to emerge.
That is why OceanHub Africa partnered with Dassault Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE Lab from day one. This partnership is designed to strengthen what African entrepreneurship support organisations (ESOs) can offer complex blue startups. By providing access to industrial-grade design and simulation capability early, we help founders reduce technical uncertainty and generate clearer evidence for funders.
Through this collaboration, startups can design, test, and refine mechanical systems in a collaborative, cloud-based environment using the same class of tools trusted by global industry leaders. The result is a clearer pathway from prototype to investable opportunity.
Results
- Industrial-Grade Cloud Access: Startups gain full access to the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, including professional design, simulation, and manufacturing workflows.
- Stronger ESO Support: African ESOs can offer more robust product-development support to complex, hardware-led blue ventures.
- Cost and Time Efficiency: Teams can identify engineering flaws and optimize performance virtually, significantly reducing wasted physical prototyping.
- Funding Enablement: High-fidelity digital designs and verified simulation outputs increase investor confidence and strengthen development-funding conversations.
- Global Competitiveness: Mentorship from 3DEXPERIENCE Lab experts ensures African ocean-tech is engineered to international standards.
“The 3DEXPERIENCE Lab has enabled our entrepreneurs to design, test and improve systems virtually, reducing risks and supporting stronger conversations around development funding.”
— Alexis Grosskopf, CEO of OceanHub Africa
