The Transformative Power of Digital Twins

What are they ?

A digital twin is a sophisticated virtual model of a physical phenomenon. It mirrors its real-world counterpart for practical uses like simulation, testing, monitoring, and maintenance. By replicating real-world environments, digital twins allow organisations to simulate various scenarios, enabling better decision-making based on real-time data and predictive analysis. As a reflection of their growing significance, the global market for digital twins is projected to expand significantly, reaching $73.5 billion by 2027 (1).

Where are they used already ?

This concept can arguably be described as modelling, a practice that has been around for quite some time.However, unlike traditional static models, digital twins are continuously updated with real-time data, enabling them to reflect current conditions and behaviours. There are numerous types of digital twins, each tailored to specific applications and industries.They create a dynamic and detailed virtual representation of a physical object, system, or process, allowing for real-time simulations and analyses. Unlike traditional static models, digital twins are continuously updated with real-time data, enabling them to reflect current conditions and behaviours.

An example of a familiar digital twin would be Google Maps, which is a twin of the earths surface. It also has the capacity to link real time data and traffic updates on traffic to help users optimise commute times.Other examples include

• Anheuser-Busch InBev.A brewing organisation that uses a digital twin in brewing and production stages of its alcohol. It allows brewers to adjust and optimise the fermentation process to get the optimum output. It has the ability to aid operations from a logistics standpoint ( e.g canning and bottling procedures) and can rectify any issues that may crop up (2).
• SpaceX.A digital twin of SpaceX's Dragon capsule helped to understand the complex systems (trajectories, load, propulsion etc) of operating a space craft. This is to work towards a safer and more reliable journey (3).
• 51 World.This organisation leverages data from satellites and drones to create a comprehensive living models that assist authorities in planning and responding to various challenges, including the Covid-19 pandemic. Additionally, it simulates the impacts of natural disasters like flooding, supporting effective response strategies.(4)

How can they be used in healthcare ?

The ultimate goal of medical practice is to enable people lead happy, healthy, and productive lives. Achieving this requires a more proactive approach rather than the reactive model that dominates healthcare today, which tends to focus on treating diseases only after they appear. Digital twins, however, have the potential to transform healthcare by shifting the focus toward prevention and personalisation. Acting as virtual replicas of the human body, digital twins enable healthcare professionals to monitor, analyse, simulate, and optimise individual health. This technology allows for predictive analysis of medical conditions, personalised treatment plans, and real-time physiological monitoring, reflecting the proactive and analytical maintenance strategies seen in industries like manufacturing.

By applying these principles to healthcare, digital twins could enable a new level of personalisation based on individual metrics, facilitating earlier interventions that could save lives. In the future, everyone could have a digital twin that is continuously updated with real-time data from wearable devices, enabling constant health monitoring and early detection of potential risks. Additionally, in surgical contexts, digital twins would allow surgeons—whether human or robotic—to practise and perfect procedures on a patient’s virtual twin before the actual operation, reducing complications and improving outcomes. Thus highlighting a use for this technology in improving medical education additionally (5).

An example of an organisation leveraging digital twin technology in healthcare is Neurotwin, an EU-funded initiative aimed at developing digital simulations of the human brain. The project seeks to create highly detailed, personalised model of brain function to improve treatment outcomes for neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and Epilepsy. Unlike past brain modelling efforts, Neurotwin focuses on replicating both the brain’s electromagnetic activity and its physiological structure, providing a dynamic digital twin. By utilising this advanced technology, clinicians can more accurately predict how various treatments will impact an individual’s brain, enabling the personalisation of therapies. Neurotwin is at the forefront of integrating digital twin technology into neurology, marking a significant step toward personalised medicine (6).

It would not be absurd to predict that in the future, every individual could have a digital twin from birth. This would allow for personalised medical treatments based of an individuals genome, as doctors could better understand how they metabolise different drugs. This would also help to reduce the burden of ineffective treatments on the healthcare system, thus improving patient's quality of life(7).

When combined with Generative AI (e.g. integrating a digital twin with a large language model), this technology can simplify complex outputs.Thus making them more understandable and user-friendly for the average person. However, it's crucial to ensure that the information generated is cross-checked against an evidence-base , as Gen AI relies on pattern recognition and prediction, which carries the risk of inaccuracies. To mitigate this, special attention should be given to validating the AI's outputs to guarantee the accuracy , especially in fields like healthcare where people's wellbeing is on the line (8).

Final thoughts

If integrated across sectors, they have the capacity to significantly enhance efficiency, drive smarter decision-making, and create more adaptive, personalised solutions.However, the success of this technology hinges on the accuracy of data inputted to ensure an impactful result.