Hexagon: Digital Twins Outperform Sustainable Expectations

Digital twins are taking a big role in climate technology, allowing data to be understandable and even make predictions.

A report from Hexagon shows that a staggering 77% of surveyed leaders say digital twins contribute to emissions reductions, with 38% reporting "significant" decreases.

The report shows on average, digital twin technology cuts down emissions by 15%. As well as this, 80% of organisations feel that their digital twin aids in this endeavour.

However, the perception of those without a digital twin underestimates this.

Less than 20% of leaders without a digital twin anticipate they can provide significant emissions reductions and 25% do not believe digital twins have any carbon-reducing potential.

“At the core of our sustainability strategy, we believe in empowering industry through our solutions to accelerate change, coupled with our commitment to create change across our operations,” says Paolo Guglielmini, President and CEO at Hexagon.

“We envision a future where data is fully leveraged so that business, industry and humanity thrive responsibly.”

Demystifying digital twins

A digital twin is a sophisticated virtual model of a real-world entity — be it an object, system or process.

This model precisely mirrors its physical counterpart and utilises both live and historical data to represent its current condition and past states. It even has the capability to simulate future scenarios.

Digital twins are grounded on continuous data collection via sensors, integration of this data into dynamic models and the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyse and interpret the data.

Hexagon's report shows that 80% of leaders are more inclined towards digital twin technologies due to AI advancements.

Johannes Maunz, Vice President of AI at Hexagon, says: “By leveraging metadata and language models, we can ensure users get access to the exact information they need at that point in time.

“Easing access is almost as important as having access to the data in the first place.

“The most attractive digital twins are making use of LLMs to let people on-site or in the field access data in an easier form.”

Originating from NASA's space exploration endeavours in the 1960s, the term digital twin was first coined by the space agency in 2010.

These models can simulate scenarios, predict outcomes, identify operational inefficiencies and optimise processes, proving crucial in complex systems like space missions.

Improving sustainability with digital twins

When it comes to enhancing sustainability, digital twins can play a pivotal role.

They enable detailed analysis of energy consumption, facilitating testing of various scenarios to improve energy efficiency in systems and processes.

A report from EY says that digital twins can slash greenhouse gas emissions of existing buildings by up to 50%, alongside potential cost savings of 35%.

Digital twins can also optimise material and water use to minimise environmental impact and enhance circular economy practices.

This includes better recycling optimisation and comprehensive product lifecycle management.

How digital twins exceed expectations

Hexagon’s findings reveal that the benefits of digital twins extend beyond sustainability, consistently surpassing leaders' expectations.

While only 19% of decision-makers without digital twins expect them to provide an increase in collaboration, 44% who use digital twins experience this improvement, marking a 25% differential.

Eva Carranza, Head of Sustainability at Hexagon, says: "At Hexagon, our largest contribution to reducing emissions is via our solutions, which empower our customers to behave efficiently, safely and effectively."

Proactive problem solving and increased reliability beat expectations by 19% and 18% respectively and prolonging the life of an object or system exceeded assumptions by 16%.

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