With every passing day, digital transformation begins to truly seep into every industry. Innovative new devices and applications are adding ease and efficiency to a myriad of daily processes for businesses of every size, with IoT, 5G, the edge, and other new technologies revolutionizing the way we interact and the way work is done.
One piece of technology that is becoming more common practice for businesses, especially those in the industrial manufacturing industry, is the use of digital twins. A digital twin is a virtual model designed to accurately reflect a physical object. The object being studied is outfitted with various sensors related to vital areas of functionality. These sensors produce data about different aspects of the physical object’s performance, such as energy output, temperature, weather conditions, and more. This data is then relayed to a processing system and applied to the digital copy.
The global digital twin market was capped at USD 3.1 billion in 2020, but the recent growth in adoption has given digital twin technology vast predictions for the increase in market size. Current estimations say the technology’s market will grow at a CAGR of 58 percent, projecting a market size of USD 48.2 billion by 2026. It’s no surprise the market is expected to continue to boom, as more companies today are acquainting themselves with the technology, taking the time to learn how it works and how it can benefit them.
Today, the Digital Twin Consortium announced two liaison agreements, one with CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute, and the other with AIoT User Group.
Digital Twin Consortium is “The Authority” in Digital Twin. It coalesces industry, government, and academia to drive consistency in vocabulary, architecture, security, and interoperability of digital twin technology. It advances the use of digital twin technology in many industries, from aerospace to natural resources.
The agreement with CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute is to influence the creation and development of digital twin enabling frameworks and technologies. The goal is to accelerate the adoption and effective use of digital twins to create value.
“CESMII is excited to engage with the Digital Twin Consortium,” said John Dyck, CEO of CESMII. “Our member organizations and the market more broadly are looking for a more holistic scope, definition and use of digital twins, including a more integrated information framework that spans process design, manufacturing, and maintenance.”
CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute: In partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Institute is a non-profit that brings over $140 million in public-private investment to radically improve precision, performance, and efficiency of U.S. advanced manufacturing.
By forming the partnership through the liaison, the two companies have agreed to collaborate on standardization requirements, realize interoperability by aligning technology components and other elements, and align work in horizontal domains for adoption in vertical domains and use cases, proof of concepts. The agreement also includes case study development from the initial concept through implementation and operational analysis and collaboration on open-source projects, contributions, and reference implementations.
“Manufacturing corporations can leverage digital twins for reduced downtime and increased performance, among other benefits,” said Dan Isaacs, CTO, Digital Twin Consortium. “We’re excited about our liaison with CESMII, and our efforts to accelerate the use of digital twins in manufacturing.”
The other liaison agreement Digital Twin Consortium made today was with AIoT User Group, a global, non-profit expert network, in which AI and IoT practitioners support companies to use the full potential of AI and IoT for smart, connected products and solutions. The two companies want to create and develop digital twin enabling technologies, and their goal is to accelerate the adoption and monetization of digital twins.
“Digital twins are the key design paradigm for any company dealing with the digitalization of physical products or equipment. AI and IoT are fundamental both in creating as well as utilizing Digital Twins,” said Dirk Slama, Chairman of the AIoT User Group. “Being able to build on Digital Twin Consortium’s strong digital twin foundation and partner network make them the perfect liaison for us.”
With the liaison, the two companies have agreed to align work in Digital Twin Consortium horizontal domains for adoption within vertical environments and use cases, proof of concepts, and programs, make AI and IoT best practices available for digital twin practitioners through frameworks and training, create open-source reference implementations and solution blueprints, and collaborate on standards requirements.
“In order to build really accurate digital twins, you need to combine the power of physics-simulation based approaches with data-analytics-AI based approaches,” said Prith Banerjee, Digital Twin Consortium Steering Committee member and Chief Technology Officer at Ansys. “This is why the AIoT User Group was formed and is a core part of the Digital Twin Consortium’s observations. I am delighted to represent this point of view in being a member of both the boards of AIoT User Group and Digital Twin Consortium.”
“We are excited about our collaboration with the AIoT User Group,” said Dan Isaacs, CTO, Digital Twin Consortium. “AI and IoT are key enabling technologies for digital twins. AIoT User Group’s network of AI and IoT practitioners, good practices, and framework for smart, connected products will be key as we work together to advance the use of digital twins.”
Overall, both agreements represent the new wave of many companies today trying to both get value out of digital twin technology, profit wise and leverage wise. And as digital twin technology becomes more crucial for efficiency and safety reasons, the importance of liaisons like the ones above will only continue to grow in part with digital twin technology themselves.
