Last week, I had the pleasure of attending Autodesk University (AU) 2025 — The Design & Make Conference in Nashville. It was intense, energizing, and full of surprises. Here’s a look back at what stood out to me — and what’s ahead for Autodesk, its users, and the broader AEC / design / manufacturing ecosystem.
Setting the Stage: Why AU 2025 Matters
AU has always been Autodesk’s flagship event — a moment to show direction, rally partners, share stories, demo new tech, and build community. This year’s theme felt heavier: not just “design & make,” but “design & make smarter” through AI, better clouds, and tighter integration. Autodesk is clearly betting big on AI-native workflows, tighter cloud convergence, and ecosystem expansion.
In the top construction announcements, Autodesk revealed plans to embed Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) into Forma, forging a tighter link between early design and construction workflows. Autodesk Revit will also become the first “Forma Connected Client,” allowing access to cloud-based capabilities straight from the desktop.
That move signals Autodesk’s push to blur the lines between design, data, and construction — creating a more seamless “design-to-build-to-operate” thread. And for us (building ACC tools for Outlook / Teams), it gives us exciting alignment and opportunity.
Themes I Saw Everywhere
From keynotes to expo booths, a few themes surfaced repeatedly:
- AI as the agent, not just assistant
AI wasn’t a buzzword — it was a muscle. Autodesk and its partner ecosystem pushed toward physically aware models (beyond text-based LLMs), capable of interpreting real-world geometry, constraints, materials, and behavior. - Cloud convergence & modular platforms
The integration of ACC into Forma, and the introduction of new Forma modules (like Forma Building Design) show Autodesk is sculpting its platform stack into more modular, composable services. - Real-time visualization & immersive feedback loops
Tools like D5 Render demonstrated how real-time path tracing, AI-based materials, and Cesium integration (for geospatial context) are closing the gap between concept and visual feedback. - Ecosystem proliferation & partner stories
One strength of AU is the partner floor. Dozens of integrations, extension vendors, and adjacent tech firms showed how Autodesk tools are embedded in broad domains (e.g. AI, data analytics, visualization, generative design). Autodesk also highlighted key partner sessions. - Autonomous infrastructure & hardware meets software
The SwissDrones presentation was a standout: they use Autodesk Fusion across design, production, and digital twin workflows to build unmanned helicopters for infrastructure inspection. Their emphasis on reducing CO₂ emissions (by ~90 %) and improving inspection safety underscores how hardware + software coevolve in the Autodesk universe.
My Personal Highlights
- Watching demos of Autodesk Construction Cloud embedded into design workflows gave me confidence in the direction we're pursuing for our Outlook / Teams integrations.
- Roundtables with Autodesk leadership clarified their go-to-market slants and partnership expectations.
- The factory tour and 3D printing / prototyping sessions reminded me how critical physical production remains, even in a digital/AI-forward world.
- Coffee chats and hallway conversations revealed how users in manufacturing, construction, furniture, civil engineering, and heavy equipment are experimenting with cross-tool pipelines (Autodesk + Microsoft + other stacks).
Even though I didn’t get to catch an NHL game during my downtime in Nashville, the energy in the city felt a little like being in the arena — lots of bright ideas, creative collisions, and eagerness to keep pushing.
These internal and external dynamics suggest Autodesk is doubling down into a tighter, more integrated future. Efficiency, automation, and AI-native platforms seem central to its bets.
What This Means for Us & Next Steps
Attending AU 2025 reinforced that:
- We are aligned. Building Autodesk Construction Cloud for Outlook / Teams / Atlassian fits well into Autodesk’s vision of connecting design, data, and operations across roles.
- Execution matters even more than vision. As more AI-native services emerge, responsiveness, reliability, and smooth user experience will be key differentiators.
- Partnership depth is vital. Those who can build bridges across multiple Autodesk products, integrate with external systems, or layer domain-specific AI have an edge.
- Staying porous to hardware + software convergence pays off: examples like SwissDrones show that innovation often happens at the intersection of physical machines and digital intelligence.
I’ll be distilling lessons, mapping potential integration gaps, and proposing pilots — and would love your thoughts on which bets to prioritize.
