The future of your industry is at AU 2026
AU 2026 brings the design and make community together to explore what’s changing, what’s possible, and what comes next. Whether you work in architecture, engineering and construction, design and manufacturing, media and entertainment, or operations, here are some must-do experiences to put on your AU agenda.
Start with the Day 2 Keynote
Join us at the Day 2 Keynote to hear from Autodesk’s industry leaders as they bring Autodesk’s AI into sharper focus through the lens of your industries. Learn how the capabilities introduced during the Day 1 Keynote translate into real-world productivity gains, more connected workflows, and new opportunities for you to create and build more.
From there, make AU your own. Dive into the sessions, hands-on experiences, and opportunities created for your industry, and discover the ideas, tools, and connections most relevant to the work you do.
Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC)
What does the future of architecture, engineering, and construction look like when data, teams, and workflows are connected from the earliest idea through construction and operations?
At AU 2026, you won’t just hear about that future. You can spend your time exploring it from every angle. Here’s how to make the most of AU if you work in AEC.
Get an inside look at the AEC roadmap
Go behind the scenes with Autodesk leaders and product experts to discover the vision, priorities, and innovations shaping AEC. Choose the roadmap conversation that matters most to your work, with sessions spanning Architecture, Civil Infrastructure, Water, MEP, Structures, AutoCAD, and Informed Design. Go deeper into Forma with sessions covering Data Management, Model Management, Preconstruction, Cost Management, and Forma Build, or zoom out with the AECO Vision & Strategy session for a broader view of where the industry is headed and some exciting product announcements.
Explore a new approach to project delivery
AEC experience in the Expo connects the project journey from early planning and design through construction and operations. Explore Forma, connected data, Autodesk Assistant, and collaborative solutions, talk with product experts, and discover practical ways to improve collaboration, decision-making, and project outcomes.
And make time for a little friendly competition. At the AECO Design Slam, two teams will compete live to reimagine the corridor between Allegiant Stadium and the Las Vegas Strip as a climate-smart design. Watch collaborative design happen in real time using Autodesk Forma, Forma Building Design, sustainability analysis, and AI visualization.
Learn from the experts
Make time for two AEC summits at AU 2026. At the Industrialized Construction Summit on Wednesday, September 16, explore how Industrialized Construction (IC) is bringing manufacturing principles into the built environment and connecting design, manufacturing, and construction. Across four sessions, hear from industry leaders about putting IC into practice to build with greater certainty, speed, and scale. Sessions are eligible for AIA LU Continuing Education credits.
The Forma CS Summit offers another opportunity to go deeper, bringing together customer experiences and practical insights around Forma that you can take back to your own projects and teams.
Design & Manufacturing (D&M)
Every product starts with an idea. At AU 2026, follow what can happen next, from the technologies changing how products are designed to the workflows that turn concepts into something you can hold in your hands.
Here’s how to make the most of AU if you work in design and manufacturing.
See what’s next on the Fusion roadmap
Make time for a forward-looking conversation with Autodesk product leaders exploring the future of Fusion, AI-powered workflows, and Autodesk Assistant.
Hear directly from the people shaping the product roadmap and explore how intelligent automation could change the way products are designed and made.
Follow an idea from concept to production
At the Fusion Factory Experience, explore the concept-to-production process powered by the Autodesk Fusion Platform. Learn more about Autodesk Keypad 3.0 and see how insights from Autodesk AI Assistant helped inform its design.
Want to put your own skills to work? Join the Daily Design Challenge, sponsored by HP. Take on quick design exercises, discover new techniques, explore capabilities you may not be using today, and see how your Fusion skills stack up.
Hear where design and manufacturing is headed
See how product lifecycle management can help turn disconnected data and processes into a competitive advantage at the PLM Summit. Across five sessions, hear from Autodesk leaders and customers tackling real product development challenges, from accelerating time to market and modernizing change management to creating a digital thread that can scale with the business. Hear how companies including Overhead Door, Humanetics, and Faith Technologies are putting PLM into practice, then close out the day with a customer panel exploring how connected data, streamlined processes, and better collaboration can drive measurable business impact.
Step inside the finished product
Explore the TruckHouse activation and get an up-close look at an innovative overland vehicle brought to life with Autodesk technology. Discover how Alias and Fusion were used throughout its design and manufacturing process and see the result for yourself.
At AU, don’t just hear about the future of design and manufacturing. You will follow an idea. Design it. Make it. And meet the people doing it every day.
Media & Entertainment
We’re all storytellers. Every film, space, and product starts as an idea waiting to be shared. But how do you turn an idea into something others can see, feel, and believe in?
At AU 2026, explore how AI technology like Autodesk Flow Studio is empowering artists to visualize ideas and opening storytelling to anyone with talent, imagination, and something to say.
See how AI is changing storytelling
Hear from Autodesk’s Diana Colella, EVP, Interactive Graphics, Media & Entertainment, and special guests during the Day 2 Keynote as they explore how Autodesk AI is empowering creative teams to explore more ideas and tell better stories, faster.
Try AI for 3D visualization at the Expo
Interested in animated or physical 3D visualization? Get hands-on with Autodesk Flow Studio for 3D asset generation and bring your creations into the physical world with 3D printing. Or try its AI motion capture technology to quickly create character animation for 3ds Max and Maya scenes. It's the place to talk with Autodesk experts and see how Media & Entertainment solutions can be applied in design, manufacturing, architecture, engineering, construction, and operations.
Build your skills with M&E sessions
Stay ahead of changing creative workflows with in-person and digital sessions that get into the tools and techniques shaping 3D. Learn how artists are building universal pipeline assets with USD in Maya, combining Maya and Flow Studio for gameplay animation, creating AI-driven VFX pipelines, and exploring emerging techniques like Gaussian Splats in 3ds Max. You can also go behind the scenes with sessions such as Nightmares in Motion: Animating the Creatures of IT: Welcome to Derry, alongside more classes covering animation, visual effects, game development, and visualization.
Find your people
Make time to connect with the people behind the work, too. M&E meetups, available at home and in Las Vegas, bring together storytellers who are ready to exchange ideas, build new skills, and explore what AI means for creativity. Meet creatives working through similar challenges, compare approaches, and leave with new connections and perspectives you can take into your next project.
Autodesk Operations
Designing and making something is only the beginning of its story.
Once a factory is running, a building is occupied, or an asset is in service, a different set of questions take over. How is it performing? What needs attention? How can teams work more efficiently? And how can the information created earlier in the lifecycle continue delivering value?
At AU 2026, Autodesk Operations brings those questions into the conversation.
Hear the vision for Autodesk Operations
Join Stephen Hooper, Senior Vice President of Autodesk Operations, during the Day 2 Keynote to hear the vision behind Autodesk’s acquisition of MaintainX and what it means for customers. See how design, make, and operate are coming together, creating opportunities for operational insight to inform decisions and drive action across the lifecycle.
Get inside the digital factory
Make time for the Digital Factory Summit on Wednesday, September 16, where real-world stories put digital transformation into context. Hear how Tesla is bringing manufacturing, design, and construction inputs together for gigafactory development, get perspectives from industry leaders on taking digital twins from models into operations, and learn how M2X Energy is using FlexSim to move from spreadsheet-based analysis to factory simulation.
See how operations leaders are driving results
Explore Operations-focused sessions spanning facilities, infrastructure, workplaces, manufacturing, and complex asset environments. Hear directly from customers, industry practitioners, and Autodesk experts about the strategies and workflows they’re using to turn operational data into measurable business value, from data-driven maintenance and asset performance to greater visibility and reliability.
Meet Autodesk Operations in the Expo
Visit the Autodesk Operations booth to discover Autodesk’s growing operations portfolio and shared presence with MaintainX. See how asset data, digital twins, maintenance workflows, and operational insights come together, meet the teams behind the technology, and find new ways to get more value from the facilities, infrastructure, and assets you manage.
Because the opportunity isn’t simply to design better or make better. It’s to connect the decisions made at every stage of the lifecycle and use them to operate better, too.
And wait, there’s even more to explore beyond your industry.
Discover innovations that flow across design and make, from the platform capabilities that help turn ideas into working solutions to AI that’s changing how work gets done.
Autodesk Platform Services
See how Autodesk Platform Services can help move AI from idea to application. Explore classes, panels, and hands-on labs that show how APIs, MCPs, and platform capabilities can extend Autodesk products, connect data and workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and power AI solutions. And you don’t have to be a developer to get started. At the APS booth in the AU Expo you can discover hands-on ways to use prompts and Autodesk tools to build AI-powered Design and Make experiences. Coming to AU early? Consider joining the Platform Leadership Forum, an exclusive pre-conference that showcases how APS can help make your AI strategy a reality.
Autodesk AI
Make the Autodesk AI zone your destination for exploring how AI is becoming part of the way you design and make. Get hands-on with Autodesk Assistant, try interactive demonstrations, and talk with product experts about how AI is showing up across Autodesk products and industry workflows today. You’ll also get a glimpse at how these experiences could evolve, including new ways for Autodesk Assistant to help bring tools, information, and workflows together.
See you at AU 2026
From industrialized construction and product lifecycle management to AI-powered storytelling and smarter operations, AU 2026 is where big industry shifts get practical. Come ready to see what’s working now, get closer to what’s coming, and take home ideas that can change how you work.
