3D models with real-time data can improve public policy design

Tenants and estate planners at Singapore’s Punggol Digital District (PDD) can tap into JTC’s digital twin of PDD to test their concepts and simulate future developments with real-time data – and more importantly, experiment without putting residents at risk.

This could lead to the introduction of autonomous vehicles, said JTC Corporation’s Director of Smart District Division, James Tan, to GovInsider previously.

3D technology, when combined with real-time data and analytics through digital twins, can be a powerful public policy design tool, according to Capgemini Japan’s Creative Director, Unity Centre of Excellence, Masahiro Fujimoto, and Capgemini SEA, HK & Taiwan’s Managing Director, Wendy Koh.

Reducing time to market is among the top drivers of digital twin investments for organisations, a report by the Capgemini Research Institute found.

They were presenting at a session titled Driving the Tech - Digital Meets Physical at the Public Sector Day Singapore 2024 on October 3.

At the session, the audience witnessed an exclusive demonstration of the newly released Apple Vision Pro, which taps on real-time 3D technology in a few settings, such as manufacturing facilities and airship simulation models that could also apply to building management.

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Wide-ranging applications

Sustainable urban management and geospatial planning are among the common public sector applications for digital twins, said Fujimoto.

In June this year, Singapore research institutions built the Digital Urban Climate Twin to assess areas of urban heat in the country, and simulate scenarios for urban planners to make living spaces more comfortable for people, The Straits Times reported.

Beyond urban planning, the applications for digital twins are wide-ranging and diverse across the entire life cycle of a variety of products, facilities, and services.

Such lifecycles span design, operation and simulation, service and user experience, to the training and maintenance phase. This could include production planning for manufacturing, setting up virtual events and showrooms, and offering product support.

In February this year, Capgemini acquired Unity’s Digital Twin Professional Services arm to tap on the latter’s real-time 3D capabilities for the industrial application of digital twins.

According to Capgemini’s official press release, the automotive, consumer products and retail, energy and utilities, aerospace and defence, healthcare and life sciences, as well as industrial manufacturing industries are high demand sectors for digital twins.

In Singapore, plans are already underway to utilise digital twins in the abovementioned sectors, including the national power grid, disease management, vessel route planning and more.

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Bridging the physical and digital gap

Digital twins are a means to bridge the physical and digital gap, by bringing together data, technologies and business processes, said Capgemini’s Global Head of Intelligent Industry, Roshan Gya, in an article.   

Capgemini highlighted three key channels that enable this bridging, which include the “digital inside” that connects the real and virtual worlds, “digital convergence” that enables users to create and manage the virtual world, and lastly, the “digital continuity” to digitise end-to-end core processes in the value chain.

Another article published by the Capgemini Research Institute details the critical enablers for organisations to reap the most out of digital twins.

Firstly, connectivity and data management are key to a successful digital twin. The firm advised organisations to select a few high potential applications and see them through to completion.

The second enabler is proper governance and increased collaboration. Collaboration within the organisation is not sufficient, but strong ties with ecosystem partners would help.

For example, JTC has 15 partners working on PDD and these include agencies that may not be necessarily related to smart city technology, such as Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) and National Parks (NParks).

Aside from collaboration, it is key for the lead organisation to define clear guidelines around data and security governance for the other stakeholders. These guidelines include what data digital twins have access to, who can access the data, and how the data can be used across the ecosystem.

If you are interested to learn more about Capgemini’s solutions, you can drop a line at contactsea@capgemini.com or click here to find out more.