European CAD from the 60's to the new millenium

Summary form only given, as follows. Computer-aided design (CAD) has always been hardly understood by the CEO's of companies because it obeys rules (if any) very different from the process. A rich variety of CAD and TCAD solutions have been developed in Europe in the early days of the CAD industry. These solutions have come to introduce real innovations in the field, but because they were mostly internal to the companies they have never reached the proper engineering level that would have enabled their introduction in the market. A review of the CAD history activity in Europe will be presented in this Plenary Session, together with some prospects on how it could evolve in the coming years and change from its lackluster industrial visibility.