Global economies – Recovering and growing via digital twins

By James Morris-Manuel, EMEA Managing Director at Matterport

The health of the global economy has come into sharp focus in the past year. Businesses have had to fall back on and make the most of their assets — but from a digital perspective at least, one of these assets is still vitally underused. Not even 1% of the world’s four billion buildings and 20 billion spaces exists in digital form, with businesses and economies currently missing out on the benefit of digital twin technology.

Digital twins, a digital replica of a physical place, maps data and therefore deep understanding and powerful insight which can be harnessed for growth and innovation across all economies. The global real estate market is worth a combined value of $230 trillion, and whether it’s improving energy efficiency or being able to manage the layout of hundreds of retail stores remotely, the opportunity is clear. With ABI Research also revealing the cost benefits of using digital twins for urban planning being worth $280 billion for cities by 2030, this is a saving that a multitude of businesses and governments shouldn’t miss.

As the world learns to live with COVID-19, digital twins also have an important role to play in global resilience. While businesses that adopt digital twins can achieve greater efficiencies, reduce costs, and optimise services, they can also improve business continuity to build greater resilience. In this way, they can more quickly pivot in the face of black swan events avoiding the fate of businesses like The GAP and others that were either forced to close, shutter branches, or cut services during the pandemic.

Tech as a catalyst for industry

Industry 4.0 emphasises the importance of digital technologies for economic growth in areas like connectivity, digitisation, and interconnectivity. Businesses benefit from increased access to real-time data that informs strategy, cuts labour costs and increases efficiency. This is fuelled by the growth of 5G and IoT – by more deeply understanding the connections between devices, companies can better understand where to focus.

Alongside 5G and IoT, digital twin technology forms a core component of Industry 4.0. The dramatic rise of smart technology has enabled digital twin technology to truly transform from just a digital replica of a building into a fully functional smart building. Today, data can be seamlessly pulled, integrated, analysed and synthesised into fact-based efficiency initiatives across an entire portfolio. Digital twins enable businesses to track real-time data, build simulations to predict and address problems, and develop new strategies. For example, if businesses expect a part of a process to fail in the future, they can preemptively fix the issue before it becomes a greater cost. Or they can identify efficiencies like energy conservation, and take the necessary steps to mitigate these. By adopting cloud-based platforms with integrated technologies and partners rather than a standalone solution, digital twin technology becomes even more valuable and more multifaceted. The ramifications for economies on a micro and macro scale are significant.

Building with accuracy

Improvements to architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) are another example where digital twins can fuel growth. Fundamentally connected to the physical world, digital twins help to bring workers together. Rather than physical site visits, employees can collaborate remotely on construction projects using dimensionally accurate digital replicas of buildings and spaces. For example, teams can use spatial data to plan optimal layouts that improve spaces. Once on the market, the digital twin can be showcased as a virtual walkthrough – perhaps even before construction is complete, enabling prospective buyers to understand a property even before the final brick is in place. These benefits are all the more important considering the construction sector is an important bellwether for the health of an economy as it tracks the rate of new builds and breaking new land as an indicator of growth.

During the pandemic, architecture and design firm Perkins & Will used digital twin technology to reduce their footprint on job sites by two-thirds, improve the efficiency of their processes, and increase access to information they can use in the future. This enabled them to collaborate and work more effectively as a team, using spatial data to understand their construction efforts and foresee improvements. Together, the time and cost savings – combined with improved productivity – continue to have long-lasting benefits for the economy.

Rebuilding the high street

The High Street was already facing challenges before the pandemic, and many stores closed under additional pressures throughout 2020 and 2021. However, other retailers sought to innovate with new shopping experiences, undergoing digital transformation to meet changing consumer preferences. Merchants knew that many housebound consumers still wanted to visit stores and browse products like in the past – indeed, research shows that 69% of consumers miss this experience.

Forward-thinking retailers like Paperchase and Nike used digital twin technology to provide immersive experiences of brick-and-mortar locations as a new way for consumers to engage with brands from the comfort of their home. By harnessing digital twins to meet consumers’ yearning for in-store experiences, retailers are providing engaging offerings that help them stay relevant in a constantly changing landscape, and also ensuring that the retail sector continues to act as a meaningful contributor to the economy.

Capitalising on technology & sustainability

Digital twin technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, with a wide variety of industries beginning to understand its benefits. Some of these are more obvious, such as real estate, but even the likes of insurance and hospitality have begun to realise their potential. The possibilities are endless. Digital twins are simply a platform from which all parts of designing, building, and operating a building can springboard off and innovate. The technology is fast becoming a backbone of business, not only allowing for faster, more informed decisions to be made, but also helping to meet sustainability goals, removing the need for travel and driving down carbon emissions.

Every day new technologies and third-party integrations emerge: open architecture will be at the core of the growth of digital twins. From traditional buildings to video games, digital twins are forming the metaverse, an immersive mirror world which some see as creating as big a shift in online communication as the internet itself, evolving with infinite applications. The metaverse is a new frontier which, while still being discovered, will offer a plethora of new opportunities for people and businesses alike.