Panel discussion report: The digital twin – what, why and how?

From smart buildings and jet engines, to warships and even entire factories the ability to create a real-time digital representation of an asset – a so called digital twin – is already revolutionising many areas of technology.

Earlier this year, in partnership with the engineering giant Babcock International Group, The Engineer brought together a panel of experts to explore this concept in more detail, consider  examples of the digital twin in action and discuss some of the challenges and benefits of implementing and maintaining a digital twin

The following report examines some of the key topics explored during this discussion. You can also view a " target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">recording of the entire discussion here.

Meet the panel

Opening the session, Babcock technology chief Dr Jon Hall explained that digital twins are of growing importance to Babcock, and key to optimising the performance and availability of the range of complex, expensive assets it manages. “Digital twins and digital technologies have implications across all the areas Babcock works in,” he said. “It affects how we collaborate with customers and can be used to transform the way in which big complex assets are built and supported.”