Autodesk

The Panama Canal, a century-old marvel of engineering, was facing a significant challenge. With the advent of larger container vessels, almost half of the world's container ships were too large to pass through the canal. This limitation was a significant bottleneck for international trade, as the canal provides a crucial shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. In 2009, engineering firm MWH Global was tasked with redesigning the canal to accommodate these larger vessels. The project was monumental, requiring a significant increase in the canal's capacity, from 4,600 containers to 12,800. The challenge was not just in the scale of the construction but also in the complexity of the engineering required to lift and guide these supersized ships through the canal without causing damage.

Norconsult, a large multidisciplinary technical consultancy in Norway, was tasked with designing a new rail tunnel near Bergen, Norway. The project was to build a second Ulriken Tunnel parallel to the existing one to double capacity. The challenge was to create a new tunnel without disturbing the old one or disrupting rail service. The project also faced administrative hurdles, particularly getting regulatory approval of the sign and signaling system, which is paramount for railway safety. The signals are typically installed years before train operators can test them, making errors common. The project was scheduled for completion in 2022 and presented significant challenges for builders, who had to bore a new tunnel through Mount Ulriken while also upgrading the existing tunnel and associated rail stations—all without disrupting current railway traffic.

The rapidly evolving nature of industries such as manufacturing, architecture, engineering, and construction presents a significant challenge for professionals in these fields. The convergence of roles and disciplines necessitates continuous learning and skill development to stay at the forefront of industry trends. Traditional learning methods may not provide the flexibility and adaptability required for these professionals to upskill and reskill effectively. Furthermore, there is a need for a reliable way to validate and showcase these newly acquired skills to accelerate career growth.

Corstorphine + Wright, a UK-based architecture firm, was facing challenges in fostering collaboration and promoting effective working across its eight offices due to an expanding project portfolio and increasing design file sizes. The larger files were putting pressure on the firm's virtual private network (VPN), leading to longer upload and download times. The inability to update Building Information Modeling (BIM) models in real time was causing inefficiencies, as architects had to take notes during meetings and then return to the office to make edits. Clients, who typically want to interrogate a live model before making decisions, had to wait for follow-up meetings or calls to discuss the latest revisions. Additionally, the firm was grappling with data-protection issues and the high costs associated with the local storage required for each project.