The top three challenges for Design & Make companies are attracting and retaining talent, managing costs, and responding to global volatility and events

Washington, DC, April 24, 2023 – The State of Design & Make report is a global, annual study for leaders who design and make places, objects, and experiences. It identifies the most pressing drivers of change that are shaping today’s business decisions and helps leaders make informed, strategic decisions about how to prioritize and invest in the future. Autodesk partnered with Ipsos to survey and interview more than 2,500 industry leaders, futurists, and experts in the architecture, engineering and construction, design and manufacturing, and media and entertainment industries from countries around the globe: including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Find the full report here.

Leaders in industries that design and make the world report that they are finding powerful ways to adapt to an accelerating rate of change. Executives in architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, gaming, and filmmaking companies shared their approaches and points of view on the obstacles they are facing and the opportunities they are identifying.

Key takeaways:

Increasing Business Resilience

The vast majority of business leaders and stakeholders said that the future global landscape feels more uncertain than it did three years ago. However, most also said their companies are prepared to respond to this uncertainty.

• Respondents reported making significant changes in response to the challenges of the pandemic. About half said that they changed how their companies worked day-to-day (52 percent) and how they managed their workforce (50 percent).
• Seventy-nine percent said that the future of their company depends on digital tools.
• Companies that are more mature in their digital transformation efforts report that they are prepared to handle change at higher rates than companies whose digital transformation efforts are less mature.
• The top benefits of digital transformation include reduced costs, increased innovation/better ideas, and the ability to launch products and services more quickly.
• Business leaders and stakeholders from Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (the EMEA region) were the most likely to say that the global landscape feels uncertain, while those in the Asian-Pacific (APAC) region were the most likely to say that their companies were well-positioned to handle global changes.

Workforce and Talent

• More than any other factor, business leaders and stakeholders across industries identified attracting and retaining talent as a top-three challenge for their companies.
• Even for respondents who did not cite talent as a top-three factor, majorities said they have trouble finding skilled employees.
• Seventy-two percent of respondents said the workforce evolved more in the past three years than in the previous 25 years.
• More than 90 percent of respondents agreed that upskilling is important to their companies; most say they are upskilling to fill talent gaps.

Sustainability

• The vast majority of business leaders and stakeholders said it is important for their companies to achieve their sustainability goals. However, only 20 percent of respondents ranked sustainability among their organization’s top three challenges.
• Nearly 90 percent of respondents said that their companies have made changes to improve sustainability.
• Companies reported receiving pressure to create and meet sustainability goals from a number of internal stakeholders and outside forces. Customers were the greatest source of this pressure, with more than 80 percent of respondents saying that customers are influencing their activity around sustainability.
• More than half of respondents said that it is a good short-term business decision to improve sustainability practices. More than 80 percent also said it is a good long-term decision.
• Sustainability is an area where a company’s practices vary significantly based on geography. Most notably, less than 20 percent of U.S. companies reported that they aren’t engaged in any sustainability-related activities at all.

About the Study

Autodesk partnered with Ipsos, a leader in global research and insights, to survey and interview approximately 2,500 industry leaders, futurists, and experts in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), design and manufacturing (D&M), and media and entertainment (M&E) industries from countries around the globe, including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. All respondents were recruited and screened using NewtonX’s open network – AI technology custom recruits from the world’s largest addressable audience instead of using opt-in panels. The survey had a final sample size of n=2,489. A distribution of the survey respondents by country and industry can be found below. In addition, 76 qualitative interviews of business leaders and futurists were conducted between September and December 2022.

About Autodesk

Autodesk is changing how the world is designed and made. Its technology spans architecture, engineering, construction, product design, manufacturing, and media and entertainment, empowering innovators everywhere to solve challenges big and small. From greener buildings to smarter products to more mesmerizing blockbusters, Autodesk software helps customers design and make a better world for all. For more information, visit autodesk.com or follow @autodesk on social media. 

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For more information about this release, please contact:

Chris Moessner
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
[email protected]

About Ipsos

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