Autodesk University 2025 – What’s New for AEC?

I have wanted to attend Autodesk University in person for some time, and thanks to our fantastic management team at Man and Machine, this year I was able to go and find out if the hype was all worth it. This event have always been on my radar, even back in my industry days.

Hosted in Nashville, Tennessee on September 16th – 18th 2025, Autodesk took over the city (and shutdown the airport) to provide an expo at Music City Central alongside some supporting hotels hosting special events and hands on sessions.

The various keynote sessions covered not only the Construction space, but also Design & Manufacturing and Media, Entertainment and Production sectors and the interlink between them. There were informative keynote presentations, which I was lucky to see first-hand in the main presentation theatre, with live workflows between the different product lines. This session also looked at some of the latest tools with a heavy lean into AI and Autodesk Assistant, which also had its first standalone Keynote session too.

Besides the presentations, there was a lot to see in the Expo as well a activities to take part in, from both an AECO focus such as a design jam session on day 1, or the Factory Design Studio throughout all 3 days. Due to this, among other activities with the Autodesk Big Room team, there was always something new to take part in and see.

Forma over Function? The Future of Digital Design, Construction and Operations

The AECO tools look like they are going to go through a renewal and rebrand process with a key focus around something that was discussed at AU 7 years ago. With Forma being the new name for all of the design and construction tools, and Forma Data Management becoming the new name for Autodesk Construction Cloud in the future, there is a lot to be excited about when we start to look at integrated software solutions with more products talking to each other.

Key takeaways from what’s coming soon in the AECO space:

• Autodesk Assistant integration into many of our existing products including ACC, Revit, AutoCAD and many others in both the AEC and D&M spaces.
• Revit becomes the first Forma enabled application, meaning you can access the Forma web interface from inside of Revit and have direct exchange between them.
• More GIS integrations of Forma, Civil 3D and Revit using key partnership tools from Esri.
• Partnering with Microsoft will allow AI integration with M365 tools from inside Autodesk software.
• Autodesk Costing and Estimation tools will combine, to become a new package called Autodesk Estimate as part of the Forma Data Management Suite.
• Forma Building Design will allow for more detailed early-stage design work to be integrated into their cloud platform, including façade design and parametric internal design toolsets.
• Additional functionality coming to the exchange to operations space using Tandem.

Some exciting announcements coming to the AECO space and some not-so-subtle changes to the platforms that we currently use, which hopefully will give us some access to new functionality and management processes which will aid in our delivery efficiency and data outputs.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Embedded in all we do and Deliver – Autodesk Assistant

AI was everywhere at this event, not just as Autodesk booths and keynote event, but also within the expo. Many companies represented in the expo had lots of exciting information to share around the integration of AI toolsets into their software, from visualisation tools to training platforms. It is obvious AI is here and making noise!

At the AI keynote, the first of its kind at these events, there were a number of key announcements which illustrated Autodesk’s plans for the years to come which included:

• Autodesk Assistant will become the AI agent for most Autodesk products, both cloud tools and desktop tools.
• New standard ISO 42001 – AI Management Systems are governing the way that AI is used in software and data platforms.
• AI Transparency cards will be produced for each AI functionality on each platform. These can be found here: https://www.autodesk.com/trust/trusted-ai/ai-transparency-cards
• Agentic AI means more autonomous AI systems making decisions and outcomes with minimal input – neural network AI was also talked about.
• ACC will support more Opendata formats like IFC and openUSD.
• More tools will be available through API integration in the first stage of roll out, before seeing a full integration of Autodesk Assistant.

More about Autodesk AI can be found here: https://www.autodesk.com/uk/solutions/autodesk-ai

The Expo – What you can see and do!

Beyond the keynote speeches, expected talks, breakout sessions and meetups there was lots to see in the expo itself. Being able to talk to a variety of software and hardware vendors as well as seeing lots of other technology from drones to scanners, as well as activities at various areas including a huge sandpit with remote controlled diggers, a puppy petting booth and demonstrations of all sorts of machinery from the factory design area when you could build your own measurement tool. To cap it all off, we had a fantastic concert as part of the closing ceremony at the Bridgestone Arena which brought everyone together to blow off steam on the final day.

Is it worth attending? I would say, wholeheartedly YES!

Joining members of the wider Man and Machine team, both from a working perspective and from a social point of view, was great! Seeing much of what Nashville’s AU had to offer, and learning about the new exciting tools, processes and software that will be made available to us in the (near) future, was very insightful! Coupled with an engaging and surprisingly fun event, of which I wont some Autodesk prizes, always puts a bonus on what was a very rewarding event.

If you have the opportunity to go, you absolutely should! Being able to see the global reach and the people who make the industry work is always beneficial, as well as understanding more about the timeline of improvements which can aid with your day to day work. It’s never a cheap event but you can easily get your money’s worth if you get stuck in and take part in the activities and sessions over the 3-day event. Next year the event will be going back to Las Vegas on 15th – 17th September 2026.