Sao Paulo, Oct 10 (IANS/EFE): Three-dimensional printing, sensors, the cloud and personalisation are "the future in technology," according to Amar Hanspal, vice president of the San Rafael, California-based Autodesk manufacturing company.

"Some tools can simulate a project's digital production to be sent to a customer," Hanspal told Spanish news agency Efe during Autodesk's fourth annual fair in Sao Paulo. "There is software that conceives data in three dimensions, which a computer uses to design a system and to generate the configuration more appropriate for the client."

Customisation opens market opportunities for all kinds of businesses.

Hanspal said his company is investing about $500 million in research and development to create smart devices and programmes to optimise engineering, architectural and construction projects, such as Autodesk's Building Information Modeling (BIM).

"BIM is a technology created by Autodesk to optimise projects and create solutions for companies using it," the president of the company's Brazil unit, Marcelo Landi, said.

"3D technologies, sensors and the cloud are part of the BIM system helping to visualise the work through data," Landi told Efe.

The BIM system is among the newest products by Autodesk, makers of the Autocad design tool. The company offers over 100 tools to create prototypes.

Landi said Brazil is a growing market for this technology, especially in connection with infrastructure projects.

"We use 3D technology, the same used in the film industry, to create infrastructure and services prototypes," he said.