Asite has launched a new report examining the foundations required to build and implement a valuable digital twin.

Responding to the integral role digital twins are set to play in ushering in an almost prescient digital era, the report, entitled ‘Digital Twins: Weaving the Golden Thread,’ focuses on the idea of the golden thread of information and discusses the requirements necessary for its maintenance.

The report also details how organizations can position themselves to optimize the implementation of digital twin technology – namely, by embracing openness, collaboration, and interoperability.

Nathan Doughty, Asite CEO said: “In fluctuating and increasingly uncertain times, digital twins can provide the built environment with a level of predictability and certainty that we need to remain resilient.

“For digital twin technology to realize its potential, we need a common open platform that will allow us to send, receive, capture, store, and share structured and unstructured data. This will help us to collaborate without barriers – and specifically, without vendor lock-in or proprietary software.

"The Asite Platform connects our growing ecosystem of partners through standardized interfaces, consolidating our strengths to unlock everything digital twins have to offer.”

Identifying some of the issues currently holding digital twins back – specifically, data fragmentation and lack of openness – the report proposes a global digital framework as a solution.

Establishing how data is used, maintained, and shared would allow us freely share and interpret data and insights, creating an accurate record of a project and providing the optimal conditions for digital twins to thrive.

Furthermore, the snapshot report looks at the deployment and potential capabilities of digital twins across traditional industries.

This includes: city planners, who have become early adopters of digital twin technology using virtual models to gain a competitive edge; retailers, who are using digital twins to create customer personas and thereby enhance services and improve product offerings; housing, where it can be used to make smarter and more sustainable decisions for our communities to deliver better quality homes; and the manufacturing sector, where the technology holds the most compelling promise with digital twins set to impact the way products are designed, manufactured, and maintained.

The report also discusses the impact of digital twins on a more human level, noting their use in healthcare to create a digital replica of a patient, which can then be used by surgeons and health professionals to practice procedures in a simulated environment.