Five years ago, we gathered the "Community View" on thefuture of engineering simulation. At the time, the mood was oneof professional pragmatism. The general sense was that wewere witnessing a steady evolution rather than a sudden revolution.There was also talk of a growing talent gap, suggesting that expertswould soon need to develop template models for large-scaleconsumption by non-specialists.

Looking back from January 2026, it is clear that "evolution" was amodest term for the transformation we have experienced. While thephysics remain constant, the way we interact with them has beenfundamentally rewritten by the rise of AI and democratized simulationworkflows. The "missionary operation" Ricardo Testi described in2021 has largely succeeded; simulation is no longer a late-stageverification step but is now getting closer than ever to powering real-time design decisions.

Another prediction from five years ago was that business modelinnovation, specifically cloud-based metering, would be a majortrend. Today, that shift is well and truly evident, with cloud-native Simulation Process and Data Management (SPDM) acting as abackbone for the digital thread. Further focus on Digital Twins forpredictive maintenance, as well as calls for simulation to drive asustainable world, have moved from the "next steps" list to board-level requirements.

However, the concerns about market concentration and releasequality remain a central tension as we balance rapid AI integrationwith the need for high-fidelity reliability.

So, five years on, we ask our community the same question – whatdoes the next five years really hold in a world where "simulation foreveryone" is closer than ever to being a reality?

This article appeared in the January 2026 Issue of BENCHMARK.