Dassault Systèmes Creates Academic Partnership with AIP-PRIMECA Network of French Universities

Universities to offer Product Lifecycle Management education with complete portfolio of Dassault Systèmes solutions

Paris, France – December 10, 2003 - Dassault Systèmes (Nasdaq: DASTY; Euronext Paris: #13065, DSY.PA) today announced the establishment of an academic partnership with AIP-PRIMECA, a countrywide network of French universities and higher learning institutes, to advance Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) education and give engineering students access to the most sophisticated PLM technology on the market today.

Under the terms of the agreement, Dassault Systèmes will provide the universities, engineering schools, and institutes that make up AIP-PRIMECA (Ateliers Inter-établissements de Productique - Pôles de Ressources Informatiques pour la MECAnique) with its full suite of integrated PLM solutions via the network’s regional poles. This includes CATIA for collaborative product development, DELMIA for digital factory manufacturing, and ENOVIA and SMARTEAM for product data and lifecycle management.

The goal of the AIP-PRIMECA network includes training future engineers and managers in all industrial sectors with the latest materials and software in the PLM domain. Through the partnership, AIP-PRIMECA institutions will provide PLM education in the regions they cover. AIP-PRIMECA poles are found in Auvergne, Dauphiné-Savoie, Franche Comté, Ile-de-France, Lorraine, Pays de la Loire, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Rhône-Alpes Ouest, and Toulouse.

“Through this single partnership, engineering students across all of France will be able to work with the world’s leading PLM technology,” said Francis Bernard, Executive Committee advisor, Dassault Systèmes. “An added benefit is that they will learn on the same tools used by manufacturers in the working world. In other words, graduates of AIP-PRIMECA schools and establishments will hit the ground running because they will already possess the highly marketable product development skills demanded by employers.”

“Technological advancement drives the evolution of industry and PLM solutions from Dassault Systèmes are changing the way manufacturers develop their products,” said Daniel Coutellier, director, AIP-PRIMECA Network. “This agreement is of strategic importance to AIP-PRIMECA because it enables us to further our objective of providing students with the most up-to-date technology that they will need for their future careers across all industrial domains.”

Dassault Systèmes provides its PLM technology to more than 75,000 students at 1,500 universities around the world through its Educational Program. Helping students bridge the gap between academic instruction and professional life, Dassault Systèmes offers its complete portfolio of products (CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SMARTEAM, SolidWorks, and ACIS) to educational institutions at preferential rates for research and training.