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SOLIDWORKS Research Edition

Dassault Systèmes | Website | Version 2025
Available For Use By
  • Included: Students
  • Included: Faculty
  • Included: Staff
Permitted Uses
  • Included: Research
  • Not included: Classwork
  • Included: Administrative Use
Restrictions

None

Available Via
  • Included: Legacy VCL
  • Not included: AVD
  • Not included: Eos Labs
  • Not included: Specific Teaching Lab
Where It May Be Installed
  • Included: University Owned Computers
  • Included: Virtualized environments
  • Not included: Personally Owned Computers
Description

No watermarks, no light versions, no delayed release cycle, no commercial pricing—all the power you need to succeed. If your research involves developing Intellectual Property (IP), patents, or publishing the results of your projects, the SOLIDWORKS Research Edition is the perfect tool for the job.

This is one of three versions (Education, Student, Research) of SOLIDWORKS licensed for NC State. Please see the SOLIDWORKS Information page for details on which version to use and how you can get access to it.

Documentation + Support Restrictions

For assistance in using SOLIDWORKS Research, please contact the ITECS Help Desk (eoshelp@ncsu.edu).

Additional Usage Notes
  • This license covers non-instructional use only. It is intended to cover use cases that are not covered by the SOLIDWORKS Education Edition license.
  • Examples of use cases for this license include:
  • There are only five concurrent licenses for this software, one of which is reserved for the COE Machine Shop. Of the four other licenses, the first three licenses in use at any given time will be issued a license for SOLIDWORKS Professional, and the final one will be licensed for SOLIDWORKS Standard.
  • Due to the scarcity of licenses for this edition, SOLIDWORKS Research Edition can only be installed on computers owned by NC State
  • If you are using this license from off campus, you will need to connect to the NCSU VPN to run SOLIDWORKS.
  • If you would like access to use SOLIDWORKS Research, please send an email to eoshelp@ncsu.edu and we will work to provide access based on your specific situation.
    General Notes

    The main differences between the Research and Educational Editions (aside from differences in allowed usage):

    • Research Edition documents do not carry the Education watermark.
    • The Research Edition is on the commercial release cycle, whereas the Education Edition is on a separate cycle. In general, the commercial version is released in Fall, and the academic versions are released in late Spring. For instance, the retail/commercial edition of SOLIDWORKS 2020 was released in Fall 2019, and SOLIDWORKS Education/Student/Research 2019-2020 were released in May 2020.
      We plan to keep the versions consistent for compatibility reasons, e.g., we will not update the Research Edition license to 2022 until Education Edition 2022-2023 is available.
    Alternative Version Notes
    • This is one of three versions (Education, Student, Research) of SOLIDWORKS licensed for NC State. Please see the SOLIDWORKS Information page for details on which version to use and how you can get access to it.
    • For instructional and academic usage, please see the page for SOLIDWORKS Education Edition.
    • SOLIDWORKS Research Edition should only be used in cases that are not covered by the Education and/or Student Editions.
    • Students who are enrolled in courses where SOLIDWORKS is used should use SOLIDWORKS Education or Student Edition if appropriate.
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