3D design specialist Dassault Systèmes and Bureau Veritas already announced an AIM system (Asset Integrity Management) named Veristar AIM3D back in April 2017. Via CAD software, it can be used to generate digital twins of cargo ships that also provide data on the state of the ship or of entire fleets.

This proprietary approach is now being countered by a group of companies and research institutes. The consulting firm DNV GL , the Norwegian University of Science and Technology ( NTNU ), Rolls-Royce and the research institute SINTEF Ocean want to jointly develop an open, standardized simulation platform for ship building . It aims to enable companies to create digital twins of ships and use them to test new technologies and maritime concepts. The partners involved in the project are currently still working on the specifications required for the platform. Those involved expect the development to take another year or two.