ESI was created in France in 1973 by Alain de Rouvray, current Chairman and President, with three other Berkeley Ph.D.s colleagues and partners (Jacques Dubois, Iraj Farhooman, Eberhard Haug). The company initially operated as a consulting company for European defense, aerospace and nuclear industries. ESI gradually developed sophisticated simulation techniques based on finite element analysis, and acquired a broad understanding of industrial processes and needs. The company opened a subsidiary in Germany in 1979, ESI GmbH.

In 1985, ESI teamed up with a German consortium led by Volkswagen to become the first company to develop simulation software for analyzing the severe deformations inflicted on a car as a result of a crash-test. This was the first step towards the development of ESI flagship product PAM-CRASH.

In 1991, ESI Group raised venture capital from Burr, Egan Deleage and changed its structure to become a software editor of Applied Mechanics. To market its software more widely ESI Group set up subsidiaries in the United States and Japan, and a few years later in South Korea.

In 1997, ESI Group acquired from Framatome its software subsidiary Framasoft, a leading French provider of mechanical simulation tools (SYSTUS, SYSWELD), especially in nuclear industry. In December 1999, ESI Group reinforced its leadership in stamping simulation with the acquisition of Dynamic Software, editor of the Optris "virtual press" software.

By its IPO on July 6th, 2000, ESI Group was successfully introduced on the Paris "Nouveau Marché" stock market, and raised about 30 millions Euros.

Between 2000 and 2005, ESI Group pursued an active acquisitions policy by successfully integrating companies such as MECAS, for developing Eastern European markets, STRACO and VASCi (Vibro-Acoustic Sciences), for solutions in noise simulation and acoustic comfort, or L3P, for manufacturing processes of composite materials. ESI Group strengthened its strategic position in the casting and the industrial metallurgy with the acquisition of ProCAST teams and software from UES, a US company, followed by the integration of the Swiss-based software company Calcom. In July 2003 ESI Group acquired from the American vendor EASi, the intellectual property rights to EASi's CAE simulation design and control software environments. Finally, the acquisition of CFD Research Corporation’s product division in 2004 enabled ESI Group to diversify its business in advanced Fluid Dynamics targeting new market sectors with strong growth potential, including electronics, biotechnology and alternative energies.

In February 2006, ESI Group confirmed the acquisition of the branch of IPS International for digital simulation services in engineering applications (CAE), as well as the intellectual property rights to their virtual human models "H-Models". Through this operation, ESI Group aims to complement its services offer with high end projects to promote innovation and realistic simulation adoption and to strengthen its installed base support.

In April 2006, ESI Group announced the signing of a strategic partnership that aims to take over the Chinese-based company ATE Technology International’s activities. Through this operation, ESI Group is looking for both market diversification and a strengthening of its geographical presence in strong growth potential industrial countries.

In 2007, ESI Group employs more than 600 high-level specialists worldwide. Headquartered in Paris (France), the company and its global network of agents provide sales and technical support to customers in more than 30 countries.

Pioneer and major actor in the field of digital simulation, ESI Group is a recognized global and leading provider of virtual prototype testing software products which enhance product design and manufacturing processes with the use of realistic material physics, to foster "Simulation Based Design" (SBD) for "Virtual Product Development" (VPD) within the overall major trend of "Product Lifecycle Management" (PLM).