Blake Avery
The 2025 Automotive Innovation Forum (AIF25) brought together over 550 industry professionals, representing over 60 global automotive and mobility companies plus many individual designers, for two days of deep discussion around a central theme: Adaptability. Featuring 34 sessions, 28 external speakers, and 24 Autodesk experts, AIF25 explored how the design, engineering, and manufacturing landscape is evolving — and how teams must adapt their tools, processes, and mindsets to stay ahead.
Key Themes: Adaptability Across Disciplines
1. AI-Accelerated Design and Engineering
Sessions demonstrated how artificial intelligence is reshaping workflows — from concept generation to performance validation. Highlights included AI-Accelerated Engineering Workflows and Autodesk’s AI Strategy for Design and Manufacturing, which showed how machine learning improves accuracy, shortens cycles, and unlocks design potential through intelligent suggestions. We also saw many inspiring examples of how our customers are using AI to explore design ideas to move faster to market.
2. Connected and Flexible Collaboration
Global teams today require tools that adapt to how they work — asynchronously, remotely, and across disciplines. Presenters from BMW and NIO demonstrated how platforms like Alias, VRED, and Flow Production Tracking enable seamless handoffs and real-time collaboration across the product lifecycle.
3. The Evolving Role of the Designer
Speakers emphasized that adaptability isn’t just technological — it’s cultural. Designers today are expected to be visualizers, strategists, storytellers, and collaborators. This evolution was a recurring theme in both tool demos and case studies throughout the forum.
Keynote Highlight:
Raphael Gielgen – “After All, There is No Finish Line”
Raphael Gielgen, Future of Work Trendscout at Vitra, delivered an inspiring keynote that challenged participants to consider not just what we design, but how and why. Drawing from years of research and global exploration, Gielgen emphasized the need for creative environments, adaptive cultures, and non-linear workflows.
His keynote framed adaptability as both a mindset and a structural imperative: one that empowers teams to continuously reinvent their process in response to new technologies, user needs, and cultural shifts.
Design Studio Keynote:
Tools that Support Creative Flow
The Design Studio Keynote offered an in-depth look at how Autodesk is supporting creative adaptability through its design ecosystem. Presenters emphasized the importance of maintaining design intent and quality while embracing faster, more iterative workflows.
Key capabilities demonstrated included:
- Live Referencing in Alias – allowing modelers and designers to work concurrently across projects and departments without duplicating files. This capability supports adaptability by enabling quick updates, contextual changes, and multi-stakeholder workflows in real-time.
- Seamless integration between Alias & VRED – enabling designers to visualize updates instantly and render photorealistic experiences without leaving their modeling environment.
- Expanded interoperability & collaboration – empowering designers to move effortlessly between creative ideation and engineering precision, whether they’re working locally or across geographies.
The session emphasized that tools must not only be powerful, but also intuitive, flexible, and supportive of the designer’s creative flow — enabling teams to adapt without compromise.
“This is not only the connection of Autodesk design studio applications. This is the connection of the personas and the functions in the studio.”
A Global Perspective on Change
Speakers from 17 countries reflected a shared urgency: to build resilient, cross-functional, and future-proof processes. Whether addressing electrification, automation, or user experience, presenters demonstrated that adaptability is no longer optional — it’s a defining trait of successful innovation.
A Roadmap for Creative Adaptability
AIF25 highlighted that innovation isn’t just about introducing new tools — it’s about adapting how we think, work, and collaborate. As the automotive industry embraces new materials, smarter systems, economic pressures, and shifting user expectations, the ability to adapt with purpose and precision will define who leads the next era of mobility.
More to Come
Starting next week we will be sharing the keynote from AIF25, followed by the Design Studio keynote session, many customer sessions and technical deep dives.
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