Altair’s exhibit gallery at TED2018 features a vintage car with 3D-printed insides, a helmet designed to reduce football-related head injuries and a Wilson golf driver challenge, among much more. (Photo: Jason Redmond / TED)

In a corner of the Vancouver Convention Center — set against a beautiful backdrop of Vancouver Harbour and the mountains of the North Shore, and right between a comfy simulcast lounge and a pop-up coffee and espresso shop — it’s hard to miss an eye-catching vintage red car. It’s the anchor of Altair’s exhibit gallery, showing off the possibilities of simulation-driven innovation.

Altair is a leading provider of enterprise-class engineering software enabling innovation from concept design to operation. Their simulation-driven approach is powered by a suite of software that optimizes performance while providing data analytics and true-to-life visualization and rendering. Altair products range from biomimicry software that unlocks the potential of industrial 3D-printing to personalized healthcare with machine learning enabled by the Internet of Things. At TED2018, they invited TEDsters to explore the intersection of human creativity and technology — and the extraordinary impact it has on shaping the world around us.

On display at their gallery: an IoT-enabled bodysuit from BioSerenity that records seizures to help diagnose epilepsy; a helmet designed to reduce football-related head injuries created in partnership VICIS, which is set to be used by Notre Dame in NCAA games this coming season; an advanced arm prosthetic … and a vintage car made up of a vintage frame with aluminum 3D-printed insides, created by Altair, APWORKS, csi entwicklungstechnik, EOS, GERG and Heraeus.

Altair is also hosting an interactive design experience where attendees can use their simulation software to design a custom Wilson golf driver. The person with the leading design — the one that hits the ball furthest (and yes, thanks to machine learning and Altair HyperWorks’ Virtual Wind Tunnel, there is a right answer to this) by the end of TED2018 will receive a golf driver as a prize. In the “Age of Amazement” — TED’s theme in 2018 — simulation and machine learning will drive innovation.