The Technology Monitor 2022 Digital Twins in an Urban Environment
Digital twins are everywhere. These particular types of twins are not just used by high-tech start-ups but also by mainstream companies and government institutions. This report will track the historical path of the emergence of the concept and investigate possible barriers to its large-scale implementation. Finally, we will sketch possible future developments for this fascinating concept.
Digital twins are built to mirror production processes in companies, to mirror complex systems like energy production and distribution utilities, to mirror key assets like bridges and sluices, as well as the entire water management system in the Netherlands. The fact that digital twins are everywhere may conceal that the term digital twins refers to different things. This report will clarify that. How and when did the concept of digital twins come about? Is the concept already applied on a large scale in society or is this a hype that still needs to be implemented to the full? If it has not yet been applied on a large scale, what are the main barriers to large-scale implementation?