Digital Twins will help in building the circular economy

Digital twin refers to a digital replica of physical assets (physical twin), processes and systems that can be used for various purposes. The digital representation provides both the elements and the dynamics of how an Internet of things device operates and lives throughout its life cycle. The ABI Research forecasts that the world economy will achieve over 10.5% circularity by 2030, as sustainability and incoming legislation start to take effect where Digital Twins play a key role. The circular economy is a key sustainability strategy being adopted by world and industry leaders in the fight against climate change and though still in its infancy in terms of data and metrics.

It is a growing phenomenon and tech industries, such as IoT for asset tracking, are set to grow rapidly in the next five years. Circularity concepts such as remanufacturing, reuse, and the sharing economy will be critically enabled by smart cities technologies such as IoT, AI and Digital Twins.” Furthermore, many different tech companies are engaging in circular concepts such as Cityzenith’s Digital Twin platform SmartWorldOS, which helps companies design out waste in their projects.

With around 70% of people expected to be living in cities by 2050 it is essential that urban infrastructure can support this population volume and density, so ‘smart cities’ and their technologies will be essential to the circular economy. Secondly, many current smart city technologies already support a circular economy such as the sharing economy, smart lighting, and green infrastructure. “However, these technologies need to adopt circular practices from cradle-to-grave to make full use of the opportunities brought by the circular economy,” ABI Research’s Lindsey Vest concludes.

Digital Twin technology has been named by the World Nano Foundation as one of five top tech growth sectors, including nanotechnology, genomics, biotechnology, and AI. These five sectors will enjoy a combined growth of more than 400% over the next five years. The Digital Twin market alone is predicted to grow from $3.1bn to $48.2bn by 2026, according to MarketsandMarkets. Experts say, as the world works towards these ambitious circularity targets, it is clear that innovators and creators are needed to reimagine the way we handle waste and to recycle as many of our materials as possible, along with managing emissions and linking those to carbon credits or offsets in real time to an urban Digital Twin platform.”

S Mohini Ratna, Editor, VARINDIA