Story

Back in 1999, numerical optimization software was taking its first steps. Our key to success was envisioning a tool - modeFRONTIER - that was unprecedented within its target market. Today, we expanded our offer and audience, but we keep with the same mission - being at the forefront of software innovation.

In 1999, ESTECO was founded by three engineers as a spin-off of the University of Trieste, building on the knowledge they acquired during an EU funded project.

Starting with numerical optimization as our core business, our offer later expanded its scope to cover different aspects of the engineering design process. Now our products and ventures have moved forward. We bring technology innovation to multiple markets and audiences, from business process management to mobile apps.

Headquartered in Trieste (Italy), we’ve grown steadily and we currently count over 150 employees worldwide, with branches and offices in the United States, India, and Germany.

Our offices

Timeline

1999 ESTECO is established in Europe, modeFRONTIER hits the market

At the end of an EU funded project, the evaluation of the commercial potential of a multi-disciplinary optimization software called "Frontier" gave promising results. Three engineers - Carlo Poloni, Luka Onesti and Enrico Nobile - decided to acquire the IP of the project and create a new company. In 1999 they founded ESTECO and the platform called modeFRONTIER was brought to market.

2001 Expansion to Asian markets

Our partnership with IDAJ as a proficient distribution channel was key to the expansion to Asian markets and to our global business success. Thanks to this long-term collaboration our engineering technology is now widely used in many primary organizations in Japan, China and Korea.

2003 ESTECO North America opens in Novi, MI

Based in the heart of the Detroit automotive district, our North American office was primarily founded to provide qualified local support to customers in this space. Over the years, and thanks to a growing team of highly skilled professionals, the action scope expanded to many other sectors and organizations across the US, with a special focus on the Aerospace field.

2012 ESTECO India opens in Pune

Our Indian office was opened in Pune as a hub for strengthening strategic relationships with the growing customer base in the country. Along with offering qualified local support, the branch now counts on two professional teams which closely cooperate with our HQs on software testing and development.

2013 SOMO first release

Working closely with customers over the years, we’ve achieved an in-depth understanding of the governance of engineering procedures. The first generation of our enterprise technology, SOMO, was released to extend modeFRONTIER optimization capabilities into a comprehensive web-based environment for integrated management of simulation process and data.

2015 Release of our first BPMN Editor

Working on the standardization of engineering workflows, we placed a bet on a new Research and Development project working on a BPMN editor. Our efforts in this field brought life to BeePMN, a free web-based platform meant for business analysts.

2016 SOMO evolves into VOLTA

Our enterprise technology has evolved from SOMO to VOLTA to take collaborative engineering to the next level. Combining advanced Simulation Process and Data Management and Multidisciplinary Design Optimization capabilities, VOLTA allows companies to scale up the usage of simulation models and design exploration and optimization techniques across teams and different organizations.

2018 New Headquarters open

With a steady yearly staff growth rate, the need for relocation to bigger premises had become evident over the years. Located in Area Science Park in Trieste – Italy, the new ESTECO headquarters is bigger, more functional and modern. It offers a better work environment to our employees and allow space for further development.

2019 Launch of Cardanit BPMN Editor

BeePMN became Cardanit. And this rebrand came with new functionalities: our business process editor now supports Decision Model and Notation (DMN) along with BPMN standard and is now based on premium plans.

2021 ESTECO DACH opens in Nuremberg

The time was ripe to open a German branch to expand our presence in the European market. We can now rely on the long-term expertise of our local workforce to directly support our customers and further develop our business in the DACH area.

Corporate facts

company locations
in Italy, North America, India and Germany.

channel partners operating in 50+ countries.

15+

technology partners worldwide.

years of experience in developing top-notch software.

percent of our workforce are women, above the industry average. The mean age is 37,6 years.

50+

percent of our employees hold a postgraduate or master degree. 17 percent completed a PhD.

156

employees worldwide of which about 115 work within our Headquarters in Italy.

200+

academic collaborations. Professors around the world rely on our technologies.

300+

organizations using our technologies in a wide range of industrial fields.

Leadership

Carlo Poloni

President

A Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Trieste, Carlo Poloni co-founded ESTECO in 1999. He previously worked at Aeritalia and Sincrotrone Trieste and joined the University of Trieste as a researcher with a focus on Multidisciplinary Design Optimization. He has authored more than 100 papers and collaborates with international companies and organizations. He is also a member of the board of the Italian Chapter of INCOSE.

Luka Onesti

CTO

As the company’s Chief Technology Officer, Luka Onesti is in charge of leading the software teams. He graduated in Electronics Engineering at the University of Trieste and has an MBA from MIB School of Management. He collaborated as a visiting researcher at the University of Bergen (Norway), where he took part in the “Frontier” project. He later co-founded ESTECO and participated in the original modeFRONTIER development.

Enrico Nobile

Scientific Advisor

Enrico Nobile is a Professor of Thermodynamics and Thermal-fluids at the University of Trieste and ESTECO’s scientific advisor. He has a postgraduate degree diploma from Von Karman Institute for Fluid Dynamics (VKI) in Belgium. Enrico supervised several Ph.D. theses and he collaborated with many research institutions including New Brunswick University (Canada), Kolektor Turboinštitut (SI), Politecnico di Milano and Consorzio Padova Ricerche. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 scientific publications.