Autodesk Launches European Clean Tech Partner Program

Software Grants to Help Accelerate Innovation and Time to Market Among Emerging Companies and Established Players

LONDON — (BUSINESS WIRE) — March 18, 2010 — Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit -- Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK), a world leader in 2D and 3D design, engineering and entertainment software, announced it is expanding the Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program to European clean technology companies working to address some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges. The Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program grants Digital Prototyping software to clean technology companies to help them innovate more rapidly.

“Europe is at the forefront of many exciting alternative energy advances, together with some of the world’s most ambitious clean energy policies, so it’s a natural evolution for Autodesk to partner with innovative clean tech companies in the region,” said Erwin Burth, director, industry development at Autodesk. “Regardless of where they are in their product development lifecycle, Autodesk recognizes the imperative that all clean tech companies face to bring their products to market faster and more cost-effectively.”

According to a 2010 survey* conducted by KPMG LLP, three-quarters of the venture capital community believe clean tech investments will increase in 2010 compared with last year. In 2008, Europe invested an estimated US$49.7 billion in renewable energy.** Autodesk already counts more than 600 clean tech industry companies in Europe among its customers. The Clean Tech Partner Program now will provide further opportunity for emerging companies, in particular, to jump-start their product development by reducing the number of costly physical prototypes in the design-to-manufacture process.

“Until recently, consumers, businesses, and governments have had insufficient energy alternatives to satisfy increasing energy demands, but viable new options are emerging,” said Simon Cook, partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson’s European team DFJ Esprit. “Today, energy uses will increasingly be met by a renewable energy source whether it’s solar, wind or biodiesel. To meet this demand, the DFJ Global Network counts more than 70 clean tech companies in our investment portfolio globally. We recognize that technology plays a pivotal role in getting emerging businesses to the next stage, which is why a number of our portfolio companies are already members of the Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program, and we look forward to extending this opportunity to our European-based investments.”

Reflecting its support for Europe’s clean tech industry, Autodesk is a sponsor of the Bloomberg New Energy Finance Summit’s first New Energy Pioneers Programme, which yesterday honored the top five companies considered by New Energy Finance analysts to be the most promising and progressive in the field of clean energy technology and innovation. The award recognized the future “game changers” in the wind, solar, smart grid, bioenergy and building sectors that are most likely to see industrial-scale adoption, including:

AlertMe, SmartGrid
Dyesol Group, Solar
Magnomatics, Wind
Novacem, Buildings
Topell Energy, Bioenergy

“Technology has a vital role to play in driving down the cost of clean energy,” said Michael Liebreich, chief executive of Bloomberg New Energy Finance. “So it is very positive to see a software leader such as Autodesk stepping up with its expertise in sustainable design to help Europe’s emerging clean energy firms realize their R&D vision. Making clean energy technology more competitive with fossil fuels -- with no subsidies on either side -- would be the single best way to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.”

About the Clean Tech Partner Program

The Autodesk Clean Tech Partner Program grants Digital Prototyping software to clean technology companies to help them innovate more rapidly and get to market faster and at lower cost. Each Autodesk Clean Tech Grant recipient receives up to € 120.000 (US$150,000) of design software, including up to five licenses of:

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