California-headquartered Autodesk, the world’s leading 3D design firm, aims to push MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) adopting technology in a bigger way for designing innovation, a top company executive said.

Talking to Deccan Herald, Autodesk Head of the Manufacturing Division India and SAARC operations Varun Gadhok said, “In India, we are already well established players in the big OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers), and big enterprise level. What we are trying to do now is like going through the grassroots level and encouraging MSME players to adopt technology for design innovation.”

Gadhok explained, “Most of the MSMEs are probably hesitant in applying technology because of funding. Now, Autodesk is providing end-to-end solution on Fusion 360 which can do everything like starting from design till you began manufacturing.”

Fusion 360 is the first 3D CAD, CAM, and CAE tool of its kind. It connects your entire product development process in a single cloud-based platform that works on both Mac and PC. Recently, Autodesk has signed an MoU with the Government of Maharashtra where Fusion 360 is available for just Rs 999 per year and officially this will be launched on May 1. Autodesk has over 100 partners including Capricot, MicroGenesis, KKM Soft among others.

When asked on plans of increasing the partners, Gadhok said, “Not every partner can sell manufacturing products, so we keep elevating or graduating our current partner from bronze to silver, silver to gold and gold to platinum. So based on that criteria our partners have authorisation to sell a particular type of software”