3DBear
10 Years
This week 3DBear turns ten. Over those ten years we have gathered experience across technologies, continents and target groups, and every one of them has taught us something. All of it laid the groundwork that eventually led to Simuna.
2016–2019
The Early Years
Everyday life in schools looked very different from today. Nobody was talking about AI yet, but technology was beginning to interest schools. At the same time a new national curriculum emphasised transversal competences, multidisciplinary learning modules, digitalisation and a new approach to assessment.
That is what we answered: the journey began with 3D printers in classrooms and continued to a Mars base that pupils built in augmented reality. It opened the door to the United States. In 2017 we entered the American school market and raised a million euros in seed funding, with a US investor on board.
Our look was different too, as the colours of this chapter show. The carousel below gives a feel for those first years.
2020–2023
Simulations and EU Projects
The app travelled with us through the start of the decade. It took us as far as India, and in 2021 we raised one and a half million euros for international growth.
At the same time the emphasis shifted to projects. With vocational institutions we built individual simulations and exercises: the teacher defined the situation and we produced it. Customer service practice at a trade fair, welfare technology across a network of eight institutions, tailored environments for students who need extra support. These projects built the expertise that our later learning materials rest on.
We were also involved in numerous EU projects across Europe, working with vocational institutions and trainers.
Varia, 2021. Practising customer service in a 360° view.
HyGGe School, 2022. A virtual school shared by eight institutions.
Bit the Spectrum, 2023. An EU project in four countries.
UFO project, 2023. Exercises for students who need special support.
Tanzania, 2023. Identifying tree species with HAMK and CAWM.
2023 onwards
Turning Point: Complete Learning Materials
Individual exercises turned out to be a hugely popular way to teach subjects that are hard to grasp from theory alone. Before long teachers wanted the same on a larger scale: complete simulation-based online learning materials that can carry an entire qualification module from start to finish.
Demand decided our direction. In 2023 we focused our work on vocational education. Today we have materials in four fields, and they follow the national qualification requirements.
Practical Nurse
Everyday care situations brought into the classroom through interactive simulations.
Learn more →
Business
AI avatar conversations and hands-on exercises for customer service.
Learn more →
Construction
Site practices and safety mastered before the real building site.
Learn more →
Common Qualification Modules
Communication, interaction and working life skills through simulations.
Learn more →The same platform holds 360° simulations where the student moves around a real work environment, gamified exercises where a choice has a consequence, and avatar conversations where a difficult situation can be rehearsed aloud as many times as the student wants. There are over 200 exercises.
Course view. A learning material is a complete course, not a single exercise.
Gamified exercise. A choice has a consequence you see straight away.
360° simulation. A situation filmed on site, where the student assesses how the worker acts.
Avatar conversation. The student speaks to a mentor and can repeat the turn as many times as they like.
The materials are created together with teachers from educational institutions. The field expert brings the substance and we bring the pedagogical and technical execution. We have run learning material projects with the majority of Finnish vocational institutions, and project work has continued outside Finland, in recent years especially in Africa.
Croatia, 2026. Project partners around the same table.
Malawi, 2025. Students practising measurements in a workshop.
Tanzania, 2025. A workshop for teachers.
Malawi, 2025. The EcoCharge project partners.
A teacher's time goes into creating tasks, differentiating them and following how students progress. That is why Simuna includes the teacher's own AI assistant, Simuna AI. It knows the course content and bases its answers on the course's own material: the teacher asks it for a group task, revision before an exam or extra work for faster students, and decides what to use.
The time this frees up can go into guidance, discussion and supporting students.
In summer 2026 health care lecturer Milja Forsman tested Simuna AI and interviewed Niina Tanhuanpää, who uses it with her own groups. Their observations on planning, differentiation and assessment are collected in a report, available in Finnish: Tekoäly opettajan työparina.
Anniversary year benefit
Birthday Offer
Buy at least 30 new student licences by 31 October and the integration is free of charge, with three teacher licences on top.
Request a quoteThe offer applies to orders placed by 31 October 2026.