[Mazin]

FIRST is a great way for Autodesk to gain a foothold in engineering. When tens of thousands of high school students grow up using Autodesk products, Autodesk becomes their comfort zone. Then, when they go into a company and have some influence on purchasing decisions, they'll naturally choose Autodesk products.

One potential success that will come out of sponsoring FIRST and other programs like PLTW is Autodesk Inventor. Maybe more engineers experienced with Inventor from high school will push it instead of Solidworks, UG, or whatever.