Cities are home today to over half of the world’s population. In another quarter century, almost two-thirds of us will call a city home. Many come for the economic opportunities found in cities, which account for over 80% of global GDP. But the constant growth and intense commercial activity come with a price: cities are responsible for 67% of global energy consumption, and more than 70% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Cities are also uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of the climate change they helped create. If one considers just rising sea levels and powerful storms, almost every city is vulnerable as 90% of all urban areas are coastal. Fortunately, cities are also uniquely positioned to reduce the global carbon footprint and drive more sustainable modes of living and consumption.
Some of the highest impact changes are being realized through the federation of data, collective working environments and the “Internet of Things.” It enables a new economy of services and experiences: cities, citizens and businesses alike using the same city referential that holistically maps the city’s systems and processes with the aim of harmonizing product, nature and life.
This theme is devoted to exploring how a coherent, dynamic digital (data) model of the city offers the environment through which mapping, analyzing, designing and simulating the life of cities and citizens alike can be advanced in order to transform cities, and the citizen experience, for a better tomorrow.

Advanced digital technologies like 3D modeling, 3D printing, and digital simulation are rapidly changing medical training, research and practice. In education, 3D printed anatomical models and immersive environments are providing highly realistic and cost-effective training to medical students and staff. In hospitals, 3D models are enabling medical teams to plan and rehearse complex surgeries, producing superior results in fewer hours in the operating room. 3D modeling and 3D printing are also allowing medical engineers to produce implants and prostheses that are tailor-made for individual patients, boosting the quality of outcomes. And in pharmaceutical research, 3D modeling and digital simulation are advancing primary research through uses such as modeling the behavior of proteins, predicting molecular and sub-molecular interactions, and mapping the three-dimensional architecture of the human genome. It’s a remarkable evolution that is already having a positive impact on the lives of the ill and injured. However, it’s only the tip of the iceberg. One day, virtual models will be able to simulate the true physiology and pathophysiology of human beings – even an individual patient – changing forever the way we research, diagnose and treat injuries and disease. If you are working with a breakthrough use of 3D technology in medical or life science fields, join us in the quest to use virtual technology to help human beings live longer, healthier and more productive lives.

The day-to-day way in which we live, work and play is a reflection of who we are as individuals and as social beings living in a unique time and place. It is often forged by a quest for both pleasure and self-expression. But how can we ensure the lifestyles we lead today bring us a sense of satisfaction, well-being and belonging while ensuring a pleasurable and abundant life for future generations? "Lifestyle" could be defined as the constant search for a more pleasurable daily life. Arising at the crossroads of ethics, aesthetics, and culture, our lifestyles are the modes of living we adopt to express who we are and to bring pleasure to day-to-day actvities. 

At this intersection of "life" and "style," daily living can be raised to an art. Men, women, and children need to eat to survive. Gastronomy goes beyond, to a place where need meets culture. Everyone needs clothing. Fashion goes beyond as well; it is where clothing meets creativity. And so it is with the lifestyles we craft, which can transform quotidian tasks and habits into pleasurable experiences.
But as our lifestyles are linked to modes and levels of consumption, how will they be affected in the years to come by external forces like a growing population, constrained natural resources and cimate change? How will they be affected by trends like urbanization, economic "uberization," an aging population, and an ever-accelerating rate of technological change? In sum, how will the key daily components of our lifestyles - food, fashion, housing, mobility, leisure activities, work, and family life - shape, and be shaped by, our changing world? 

These are the questions this theme addresses, and we´d like you to join us in exploring how a collaborative use of advanced 3D technologies such as digital modeling, simulation, and virtual reality can help us understand, anticipate, invent and respond to evolving lifestyles.

In the Internet of Things (IoT), billions of everyday objects ranging from toasters to turbines to tennis shoes to trees are being equipped with sensors that can gather information about the internal or situational state of their host ‘thing,’ and communicate that information across wireless networks to information systems or other things. This new information flow is providing an affordable means to understand and manage real-world things from a distance while giving some things – your thermostat, for example – the data and capabilities they need to manage themselves. And while much of the media buzz around IoT today may focus on clever consumer gadgets, it is clear that these new capabilities are having a significant impact on every sphere of life, from business and industry to society, education and research. In the automotive industry, the IoT is enabling the incremental rise of the self-driving car. In retail, it is being used to auto-replenish dwindling inventory. In health care, it is enabling the elderly to remain safely in their own homes. In cities, it is powering smart lighting systems that save significant energy and money. In education, it is bringing increased convenience and integrity to online learning, and in research, it is significantly enhancing scientists’ ability to make observations and run experiments. If you’re working on a disruptive IoT project that you feel can transform your own industry or sphere of activity, we’d love to hear from you.

The name of this theme is inspired by the Fab Labs born of an MIT outreach program that seeks to provide access to tools and know-how to allow anyone to make (almost) anything using technology and digital fabrication. Fab Labs, like TechShops and more general makerspaces, serve as collaborative community spaces for the do-it-yourself inventors, tinkerers and designers of the maker movement.
Situated at the convergence of hacker culture, traditional artisanship and collaborative/sharing/P2P trends, the maker movement reflects a growing desire for authenticity and meaning in an economy built on the heavy consumption of generic, mass-produced merchandise. Encompassing goods ranging from craft beer to robotics, the maker movement instead privileges the production and consumption of goods and services that are local, largely hand-crafted and unique.
Beyond just creating things for personal satisfaction, the maker movement is an entrepreneurial movement. It is spawning new businesses built upon networks of small, local manufacturing with direct-to-the-customer marketing and distribution. Large manufacturers and retailers are taking note of the trend, and seeking ways to participate in or adapt to it.
As a company dedicated to sustainable innovation in design and manufacturing, and as a company that has always believed that consumers buy meaningful experiences, not goods and services, we want to support the makers inside our own company, in schools and in the marketplace.

"Some say great ideas are always out there, ""in the air,"" waiting to be grabbed. Some say they are the products of intention and careful reflection. Once one gets hold of a great idea, however it arrives, transforming it into real-world innovation is a process of luck some maintain, hard work others claim. This theme seeks to explore the ideation process in all its forms, but particularly in the light of changing technology. With the advent of social media, the Internet of Things, the Cloud, collaborative platforms, crowd sourcing and mobile communications, is the process of ideation in evolution? Can disruptive technologies like 3D modeling, 3D printing, big data analytics, virtual reality and digital simulation transform the ideation and vetting process to ensure greater success in moving from concept to creation?    Join us in investigating these topics as we seek to support the ideation process for all themes within in the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab while fostering breakthroughs in the ideation-to-innovation process itself.