Digital Twins: You’re Really Seeing Double

I grew up an only child. So needless to say, I’m not a twin. Most of what I claim to know about twins comes from favorite TV shows of mine, Pretty Little Liars and The Vampire Diaries franchise. Some say there’s always a good twin and her evil counterpart. But the way I see it, they often take turns, swapping in and out of the roles like shape-shifters. And that’s what makes it fun.

Today I’m here to talk about a special type of twin - one that a McKinsey analysis projects to expand at an annual rate of 60 percent, ultimately reaching a global market value of 73.5 billion in 2027. 'You might have guessed it: We’re talking about digital twins.

Creating Your Twin

What do you need to replicate? Is it a product? A system? Or even a whole process? Any of these can become a digital twin, equipped with sensory data, both real-time and historical. There are quite a few software options for building your twin, including Siemens MindSphere, 3DEXPERIENCE and even Ansys Twin Builder, tailored specifically towards digital twin technology. Amazon Web Services and Microsoft both have IoT platforms primed to connect your twin to real-world data sources. APIs and cloud computing can both play a vital role in seamlessly integrating your twin into its new environment.

A Deeper Dive

A special edition of The Briefing Room with Eric Kavanagh featured Adam Marko, Life Sciences Field CTO at Hammerspace, and his experience with digital twins. Acknowledging that he sees “way more data swamps than data lakes” in our current environment, Marko also expressed confidence in digital twin technology’s ability to provide viable solutions to the mess. After all, a digital twin’s capability of implementing single-source-of-truth models can resolve conflicts in information, such as those created by duplicate data. In addition, metadata tagging can improve the categorization and searchability of siloed data, especially with the use of custom metadata.

According to Marko, “custom metadata is required for companies that want to move into the digital twin space.” Why? Because it’s all about context. Custom metadata in the form of environmental conditions, operating constraints or other context-specific information helps make your digital twin as accurate a replica as it can be. For example, a digital twin deployed within a smart city might possess metadata from traffic sensors, weather reports and live transportation schedules to optimize accuracy. Marko explained that digital twins are still new in his specific area of life sciences. However, digital twins offer promising developments in terms of research, drug developments and personalized medicine.

All In Good Company

Who doesn’t want help from a friend, or in this case a twin? As we continue to innovate in the “real world,” our digital counterparts work alongside us in the realm of technology and AI, paving the way for fully autonomous systems. Our virtual replicas can enhance decision-making, optimize operations, and predict outcomes with unprecedented accuracy. As industries embrace digital twins, they unlock new levels of efficiency, sustainability, and innovation, shaping a future where the physical and digital worlds seamlessly converge. The question isn’t whether digital twins will change our world—it’s how quickly we’ll adapt to the possibilities they create.