An analysis by Market Research Future suggests the digital twin market is set to grow at an average annual rate of over 37 % by 2023 and expected to reach 15 billion US dollars by the end of the forecasting horizon. The leading providers of digital twin solutions include General Electric , IBM , Oracle , Microsoft , PTC , ANSYS , Dassault Systèmes and Siemens .

The term “digital twins” refers to digital replicas of people, machines, facilities, processes, systems and entire production contexts. Modern factories often already have a digital twin that simulates the entire value chain and gradually integrates additional qualities such as artificial intelligence and extended virtual reality. For the analysts at Gartner , digital twins are one of the ten major technology trends 2018 ; they see them as a potential means of saving billions of dollars in MRO (maintenance, repair and operations) costs and as a way to configure IoT installations to meet precise requirements.