Digital Twin Hub: the future of connected, interoperable digital twins
Source: Smart Cities World by Luke Antoniou
Dr Alison Vincent, chair of the new Digital Twin Hub strategy board at Connected Places Catapult, explains what’s next for digital twins, how to break down barriers between sectors, and the role the Hub will have in driving digital twin innovation forward.
What has led to your appointment as chair of the new Digital Twin Hub strategy board? What are your objectives for the DT Hub?
Alison Vincent: Two years ago, I became a non-executive director of Connected Places Catapult, which is where management of the DT Hub has now moved to. When I saw the opportunity to help steer that transition and the future movement of the DT Hub, I wanted to put my hat in the ring. This is a newly created role to head up a board whose purpose is to govern the Digital Twin Hub following its transition to a more multi-sector industry and Catapult Network partnership. Connected Places Catapult hosts that network, but I’m certainly hoping that the Catapult Network at large can become part of this mission as well.
The Digital Twin Hub’s new board is now being appointed and will feature representation from across a spectrum of stakeholders involved in the digital twin community. I want cross-industry representation across the board – everyone from the infrastructure owners to the technology suppliers. That’s vital for driving innovation, developing expertise and ultimately advancing the state of the art of the digital twin.
The next phase for the DT Hub is ambitious as more digital twin owners and solutions providers look to support each other in developing increasingly advanced digital twins, for diverse applications across sectors. The Digital Twin Hub has a motto: learning by doing, progressing through sharing. That is the way we will get connected digital twins to come to fruition. In the very near future, we will establish working groups to focus on specific areas of interest in digital twin development. That could be sector-specific demonstrator projects, standards development or best practice guides and playbooks that will help support the community in advancing digital twin adoption.
The DT Hub has emerged around the built environment, and while Connected Places Catapult is often associated closely with smart cities, the focus is really on places where there are hubs of people – where we live, work, learn, travel, enjoy leisure activities. It’s now a case of working out where these places are and how they could benefit from digital twin technology. With that at the centre of the issue, Connected Places Catapult is a great place to host the DT Hub and find answers to some of those questions.
Where do you see digital twin technology adding the most potential value in terms of sector and/or application?
Alison Vincent: Digital twins are already here and the work is happening in so many areas – everything from working out the best placement for a solar panel in Singapore, to assessing people flow in train stations in London, and even simulating the impact of natural disasters in Seoul. These are very discreet examples in which digital twin technology is being used, but when we begin to join these types of examples together, it can create a very powerful system. Connected digital twins offer a broader view of a place, not just one particular problem, and help us understand the interactions between the different aspects of the system.