According to the analysts , digital modeling of complete value chains will be used by half of the major industrial companies by 2021, resulting in a 10% increase in effectiveness. While the advantages for maintenance and servicing are obvious, in its trend forecast , Gartner sees “digital twins” reaching far beyond asset management: “Over time, digital imagery from virtually every aspect of our world will be dynamically linked to its real-world counterparts and interconnected – featuring lots of AI-based capabilities to enable advanced simulations, processes and analysis,” David W. Cearley explains.

Digital twins of people (with biometrics and health data) are expected just as much as real-time models of entire cities and buildings. This is attracting the attention of insurers , who expect direct access to all relevant real estate data – whether about renovations and maintenance or the ownership structure – to provide them with a reliable way of checking fire protection systems and other parts of the contract.