HWTrek (Hardware Trek), the global open innovation platform for hardware creation, today announced a collaboration with Autodesk to enable the integration of HWTrek’s platform with Autodesk to be launched early 2016 as part of the Forge initiative. Forge is an initiative to accelerate a cloud connected ecosystem in support of the future of making things.
A significant challenge for hardware development has been bridging advancements in online collaboration and innovations of IoT device creators with the global manufacturing and supply chain, which has been slower to embrace these changes. The success of Fusion 360 and the new hardware revolution has pushed the demand for solutions to these challenges further.
“Integration with industry leading development tools like Fusion 360 aligns with the long-term strategic vision for HWTrek’s hardware development ecosystem platform,” said Lucas Wang, HWTrek CEO. “As a platform for hardware innovation, HWTrek bridges the gap with connections to consumer electronics manufacturing resources. We are excited to work together with Autodesk Fusion 360 to provide a seamless end-to-end service for hardware developers that shortens the time to product commercialization and scaling up manufacturing production with the resources of the global supply chain.”
“Fusion 360 is a central component of Autodesk’s product innovation platform, enabling makers and manufacturers to deliver on the future of making things,” said Stephen Hooper, Autodesk’s senior director for manufacturing industry strategy. “The Forge Initiative expands the capabilities of the platform by bringing innovative companies like HWTrek into the ecosystem.”
HWTrek’s cloud-based platform is the first global, complete end-to-end hardware development ecosystem—a one-stop shop—for IoT hardware innovators working to manage their product development, connect with manufacturing and supply chain industry experts, and bring their connected device projects to market. HWTrek now connects 4,000 hardware creators and startups that have created 1,200 projects on the platform to 800 trusted manufacturing and supply chain industry experts from Taiwan and Shenzhen to rest of the world—from tier 1 ODMs to small, skilled design houses—who have developed unique programs to assist the creators in pilot production. More than 2,000 inquiries have been successfully bridged with manufacturers and other experts.
“Sharing CAD models with potential manufacturing partners can be an ordeal at the best of times. Having Fusion 360 sharing integration with the HWTrek platform would be amazingly helpful for the bidding process,” said Jesse Vincent, co-founder and CTO of Keyboardio, which was designed in Fusion 360 and also a member of the HWTrek ecosystem.
