Digital twin predictions for 2022

Digital twin technology has become more prominent across many industries over the last few years and the property sector is one of them. This article will take a deep dive into some predictions from the Twinview team for the year ahead.

Hype to mature and settle down

The hype around digital twins is expected to mature and settle down as use cases come to fruition across different industries where they can demonstrate ‘real’ added value. Associate Director at BIM.Technologies, Romulo Simionatto says “There has been a great deal of noise around what digital twins can accomplish within the real estate sector and 2022 is expected to be the year that sees digital twins ‘walk the walk’ rather than ‘talk the talk’. The majority of ‘digital twins’ out there don’t actually do what they say on the tin. At least not right now anyway. Twinview continues to innovate but can deliver value immediately, out-of-the-box”.

Sustainability and carbon reduction at the fore

The built environment is the biggest emitter of carbon worldwide accounting for almost 40% of global emissions. This provides a huge opportunity for digital twins to offer value for commercial building owners by giving them a tool that will help them to measure and manage their energy consumption better. COP26 shone a light on the effects that carbon emissions are having on our planet and digital twins are expected to play a key role in decarbonising the built environment.

Improved operational efficiency

Building owners and operators will begin to understand the effects that digital twins can have on daily operations. Romulo adds “the disruption caused by digital twins in the property sector is challenging protocols that have been in place for many decades. IoT and analytics have the ability to integrate a large number of data points which results in vast improvements in efficiency and effectiveness”.

Twinview contains a range of features to improve operational efficiencies for facility managers such as predictive maintenance, space utilisation and HVAC control.

Building Safety Bill will see digital twins as ideal integrator for Golden Thread

Twinview is the perfect platform for ensuring that a golden thread of information is accessible. All asset information is stored on Twinview giving users quick and easy access to documentation via the document vault. All maintenance history for the servicing of a building and its assets is available as a digital log on Twinview.

Monetising digital twin data streams

Data is power and companies will look to monetise their digital twin data streams. Associate Director at BIM.Technologies, Anthony Harte says “companies will generate extra revenue by selling useful anonymised data to third parties. Digital twin capabilities, cloud-based data capture, data processing, data analytics and simulation will require greater security as it becomes more valuable”.

Construction data to merge with Blockchain Technology

Another of Anthony’s predictions is that construction data may eventually merge with Blockchain technology. “The movement of data could be connected to a token, enriched with data and subjected to smart contracts to maintain a true golden thread of transactions”.

This could lead to decentralised data which mitigates the risk of failure or hacking. Digital smart contracts will become part of the Blockchain and start to become part of construction. Digital currencies could be integrated into the acquisition of digital data.

Public sector to invest heavily

Implementation Director of Twinview, Ben Malone believes with the hype of digital twin technology becoming more mature, it is expected that the public sector will invest heavily and begin to manage their estates using cloud-based platforms such as Twinview. This could lead to more innovation around transforming and digitising existing assets and infrastructure.

Digital innovation

It is expected that this year will bring more innovation around transforming and digitising existing assets and infrastructure. Integrating digital twin technology with buildings offers a holistic view of operations and a greater understanding of how different functions are performing. Machine learning and artificial intelligence will be utilised to improve building and operational efficiencies.

Increased general understanding across sector

The general level of understanding of digital twins will increase throughout the sector as we see useful case studies of where the implementation of a digital twin is providing operational efficiencies. There will be less false marketing and Twinview will stand out from the crowd as a product that ‘walks the walk’.