A decent 3d CAD and multiphysics FEM (cheap comsol) would be a good start

Yes but the industry is so rooted and vendor locked that it is extremely hard. People pay for Autodesk, Ansys, comsol etc. because it is proven and engineers are trained to use it. I would not be eager to use something new if I’m a constructor or car manufacturer.

Yep, decent 3d CAD is expensive. Competition in this space would be fantastic