In November 2019, Javelin invited Toronto’s Aidan Aird to participate in User Advocacy Day at SOLIDWORKS headquarters in Boston. The mini-conference gives select users and SOLIDWORKS executives a chance to come together to swap inspirational stories and learn from each other.
Passion is the fuel: In this interview with Aidan Aird, learn about how Javelin Technologies, SOLIDWORKS tools, and the SOLIDWORKS community have changed his life, and by extension, the lives of 200,000 young students (and counting!). Aidan is a powerful force in the SOLIDWORKS community (no surprise to the Javelin team, who invited him to training courses when he was just 13 years old). Hear Aidan talk about supporting kids’ passions, his appreciation for Javelin believing in him, and the importance of collaboration among various disciplines.
Aidan at SOLIDWORKS User Advocacy Day
Aidan is an accomplished 20-year-old whose passion and achievements impressed even the most esteemed event attendees. Aidan founded Developing Innovations and STEM Kids Rock – both aim to encourage and celebrate young people in STEM pursuits. In Boston, he started his day chatting with Marie Planchard, Senior Director of Education & Early Engagement for SOLIDWORKS. The two discussed the immense potential of young people and the power of SOLIDWORKS Apps for Kids, as well as future collaborations between SOLIDWORKS and STEM Kids Rock.
Aidan speaks highly of his experience touring the 3DEXPERIENCE Lab, where SOLIDWORKS employees and others spend creative time working with the latest tools in a collaborative ecosystem, and hearing from top notch users and resellers, who are furthering engineering and innovation in their regions and fields.
“I’m grateful to Javelin and SOLIDWORKS for the opportunity to meet, learn from, and collaborate with inspiring people with brilliant minds. I went home with a renewed passion to dream big and work harder until those dreams become reality!”
3DEXPERIENCE World
In December, Aidan became one of only 20 SOLIDWORKS community members invited to participate in the inaugural 3DEXPERIENCE for Good Hackathon to improve the design and manufacturability of the Ellen Meadows Foundation LN-4 prosthetic hand. Each team will use the tools on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and propose designs to help the foundation achieve more than one million hand donations to the most remote corners of the globe.
The challenge and criteria were officially announced on January 10, 2020 with the hackathon ending on February 10, live at 3DEXPERIENCE World.