Standards Australia Digital Twin White Paper

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

ABOUT STANDARDS AUSTRALIA Standards Australia is an independent, non-government, not for profit organisation. We are the nation’s peak nongovernment standards development organisation.

The work of Standards Australia and our staff, stakeholders, members and contributors enhances the nation’s economic efficiency, international competitiveness and contributes to a safe and sustainable environment for all Australians.

Standards Australia’s vision is to be a global leader in trusted solutions that improve life – today and tomorrow.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

Authors Adam Beck: Head of Digital Urbanism, ENE.HUB Adam is an urbanist who has worked for private sector consultancies and leading global nongovernment organisations to advance sustainable community outcomes in cities around the world for almost 30 years.

He is Head of Digital Urbanism at ENE.HUB, a role that has him working collaboratively with Council’s and land authorities to realise the benefits of shared urban infrastructure in connecting, activating and measuring urban life.

Adam is Chair of the Standards Australia DTw Working Group, Co-Chair of the Smart Places and Infrastructure Workstream at the Internet of Things Alliance Australia and is Co-host of the podcast ‘Digital Built Australia’.

Adam is also Co-founder and Director of TEMPO Institute, a digital built environment education provider.

He was also the Founding Executive Director of the Smart Cities Council Australia New Zealand, a role he had for 6 years.

Adam previously had roles as Director of Innovation at EcoDistricts in Portland Oregon in the United States, Executive Director at the Green Building Council of Australia and various consulting roles with global consulting firms Arup and GHD for 15 years.

Gavin Cotterill: Founder & Managing Director GC3 Digital Gavin is a leading strategist who, for over three decades, has worked for private sector consultancies to drive a digital revolution that accelerates how cities, infrastructure and regions are planned, delivered, and managed to help increase economic effectiveness and sustainable practices.

Gavin is the founder and managing director of GC3 Digital and is an acclaimed DTw expert trusted by public and private executives to develop world-leading DTw strategies and programs.

Gavin is passionate about creating a better future for people, places, and the planet. He is involved in numerous industry groups, such as the DTw Partnership, Smart Cities Council, and the Internet of Things Alliance Australia.

Gavin advocates standards and has helped develop ISO19650 BIM standards and ISO37106 Smart Cities Standards. He is currently part of ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41 - Internet of things and DTw standards development.

Gavin is also Co-founder and Director of TEMPO Institute, a digital built environment education provider and is the Co-host of the podcast ‘Digital Built Australia’, and was also the Founding Director of PCSG Australia (now part of the Cohesive Group), a role he held for seven years.

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

Contents Executive Summary ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 6 1. Introduction �������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 8 2. The Why ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 9 3. The What ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 14 4. Now - The current situation ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 18 5. New - Change is underway ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 22 6. Next - Recommendations for market leadership ������������������������������������������������������������������ 27 7. Appendices ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 35

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

Acknowledgements Standards Australia would like to acknowledge the support of the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources in the development of this white paper.

Abbreviations and Acronyms AI

Artificial Intelligence

AEC

Architecture, Engineering and Construction

ANZLIC

Australia New Zealand Land Information Council

BIM

Building Information Modelling

DE

Digital Engineering

DTw

Digital Twin

GIS

Geographic Information Systems

IEC

International Electrotechnical Commission

ISO

International Organisation for Standardisation

OGC

Open Geospatial Consortium

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

Executive Summary A Strategic Vision for Australia?

An opportunity is on our doorstep, to grow our ‘digital’ economy and to accelerate toward our climate commitments.

We are in the early stages of a major market transformation enabled in part by significant digital innovation. DTw (DTw) capability across the country is growing and is likely to have a profound impact on how we work, live and play.

If Australia has a plan, and a consistent approach to Dtw, it will be better placed to capture the benefits of this transformation.

Key Benefits Some of these benefits include increasing trade and investment, increasing national productivity, less disruption and waste and importantly opening up new markets and new services for the nation.

Innovations driven by digital technologies, including machine learning, artificial intelligence, could add up to $315 billion to our economy by 2028 (Alpha Beta 2018).

Through state based DTw programs in Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria underway, Australia is well placed to seize these opportunities.

Australia has a competitive, market driven economy with free and open trade, strong digital infrastructure and a pipeline of potential talent that could help create the right conditions for government and private sector companies to adopt DTw as more products and capabilities come to market.

Establish Australia as a global leader in developing and implementing Digital Twins to support policy, trade, investment and jobs Opportunity to invoke specific ways to inform and evaluate priorities Opportunity to predict the unintended consequences of new policies

Opportunity to understand the impact of new construction

Opportunity to share key data across jurisdictions Opportunity to create new jobs

Opportunity to understand the impact of climate change and flooding

Opportunity to understand the performance of assets and services

Opportunity for trade and investment

Figure 1: Some key opportunities and examples of how DTw use cases can provide value and benefit to Australia.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

Key Challenges Australia has the potential to be a world leader in DTw technology, but without holistic planning and implementation of this cutting-edge technology our efforts to date have been disjointed.

Three key problem areas need to be addressed that will enable Australia to realize maximum value from embracing such an approach: 1. The need for greater national leadership and coordination 2. The need to drive better decisions facilitated by comprehensive information sharing and exchange 3. The need for guidance on best practice and to support future capability Individual DTws are already being created across the country, supporting efficiencies and better outcomes through improved use of data.

To ensure we capitalise on these new advances, collaboration between states and territories and with local government is required for a more unified approach.

This approach will help Australia to build on its global leadership position with artificial intelligence, quantum computing and cyber security and privacy.

Key Recommendations In response to these challenges this white paper lays out a series of recommendations that can support Australia’s journey to national DTw advancement and global positioning and leadership.

These recommendations cover the areas of leadership and governance, critical market enablers and a national pilot program to activate opportunties. These are summarised below.

National Sponsor

Standards

Governance/ Working Group

Capability

National Strategy

Technology Investments

LEADERSHIP & GOVERNANCE

THE ENABLERS

National Pilot

ACTIVATING

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

1. Introduction 1.1 About this White Paper In Australia, like in many other parts of the world, the digital transformation of our built environment is happening at speed, with the vision of realising savings, making better decisions and delivering greater value.

Technological developments over the past few decades have been dramatic. These developments have come from many sectors, but all have applicability for our built and natural environment. But the way government and the private sector is evolving in this new era of opportunity is at times exploratory, with a lack of guidance and definition on what best practice process looks like.

DTw currently suffers this fate, with mixed interpretations of the core concepts and terminology, varying levels of understanding and application of the use cases and benefits, and a struggling marketplace that is uncertain of how to mobilise.

This is reflected through the sentiments expressed regularly at industry events, in the conversations between clients and consultants and the feedback from the industry engagement process associated with this white paper.

But the opportunity and interest to advance DTw as a platform for industry transformation is considered strong. In fact by building off existing capabilities, Australia has the opportunity to be a global leader if the right conditions are created.

The purpose of this paper, informed by its collaborative industry engagement process, provides key information relating to the scale of the DTw opportunity for Australia, and is intended to achieve four key objectives: 1. Background and observations so far in Australia, and internationally 2. Focus on the role of standards in developing and implementing DTw in Australia 3. Help support Australia’s leadership, influence, and uptake of digital and critical technologies both domestically and internationally 4. Suggest opportunities to advance DTw in Australia to enable the opportunity for growth in the market, realise the value from DTw and internationally lead in the application of it.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

2. The Why 2.1 The Opportunity Ahead Australia’s place in the world will be defined by how we adapt to digital technologies and modernise our economy. The next 10 years will determine whether we lead or fall behind. We are well placed to be a leading digital economy and have strong foundations, but many countries are investing heavily in their digital futures.

There is a concentration of data science and AI expertise in Australia, as identified in the nation’s Artificial Intelligence Action Plan. Within it is a vision for Australia to be a global leader in developing and adopting trusted, secure and responsible AI. Similarly, there is an opportunity for Australia to aspire to lead globally in building and applying DTw capability. Being in its infancy there are conditions conducive to this, with standards under development, early business case work underway, and a supply chain primed to engage.

Building on the work of the New South Wales, Victorian and Queensland state governments, Australia has an opportunity to develop global leadership in DTw, through the development of a national DTw program.

This program would ensure that Australia’s path forward will leverage DTw capability to further strengthen our economy, and lift the quality of life for all Australians.

Case Study: DTw Victoria About The DTw Victoria program is a $37.4 million investment in DTw technology, geospatial data and spatial innovation over a period of 4 years. The program was established to help set the digital foundations for a future-ready Victoria, using data to answer new questions and make better data-led decisions.

Key Actions DTw Victoria program is structured across 7 streams of work that bring together new foundational data and cutting-edge technical capability, high-quality datasets and intelligent analytics to leverage a new era in DTw technology.

• • • • • • •

DTw platform Advanced Earth Observation DTw Utilities Automated Approvals Faster Subdivision Registration Enhanced Disaster Response DTw for Asset Management

What’s Next DTw Victoria will be continuing to deliver the key uses cases within the current funding cycle and look to support Victoria’s big build program.

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

This program could also support businesses to enter new markets, invest in their own digital transformation, and deliver globally competitive products and services.

This will in turn uplift businesses across the economy, boosting their productivity and competitiveness, helping them to increase revenue and employ more Australians. To ensure those benefits can be fully realised, there is a need for collaboration between our researchers, academics, Standard Development Organisations and our industries.

Building our domestic capability in DTw also ensures we are well prepared to counter national security threats, while simultaneously supporting innovation and developing Australia’s DTw expertise in areas of competitive strength. For instance, it is clear that DTw has great potential and an important part to play in Australia’s natural and built environment sectors.

Whilst the states and territories have primary responsibility for their respective built and natural environments – having a national approach can bring consistency to an evolving and potentially sporadic marketplace. And to help institutionalise a common understanding and consistent approach that reflects best practice, drives demand and supports scale we must create and adopt standards.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

2.2 Practical Benefits for Australia The benefits of DTw for the nation are diverse, and include opportunities in the following areas:

Trade & Investment The international trading environment has become increasingly complex. Keeping the global economy open and businesses trading is crucial for Australia’s economic resilience and security.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Australia is focused on upholding the rules-based trading system and securing new market opportunities for Australian businesses. A DTw leadership position can support Australian businesses to secure opportunities globally, including through free trade agreements and advancing trade and investment collaboration in the region and more widely.

Society Transparent stakeholder collaboration leads to greater success in meeting the needs of end-users. It enhances customer satisfaction and experience, resulting in high performing infrastructure that provides world class public services.

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NS

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Figure 2: Some of the key benefits of investing in DTw capability in Australia.

E PR ASE OD N UC ATI TIV ON ITY AL

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

Economy Increased national productivity from higher-performing and resilient infrastructure operating as a connected system is a vision for the nation. This can result in improved measurement of outcomes. Another key economic benefit of best practice DTw capability is the reduced downtime from having enhanced information security and privacy ‘built-in’.

Business New markets, services and potential business models open up for our commerce sector when data is activated through DTw capability. Improved business efficiency from higher-performing infrastructure is also being realised from existing sectors, such as mining, infrastructure and city planning. And with optimised delivery efficiency, comes benefits to the whole value chain – investors, owners, asset managers, contractors, consultants and suppliers. All of these stakeholders benefit from the reduced uncertainty and better risk management within their operations.

Environment Granular data in real time can offer less disruption and waste in the supply chain and in our consumption patterns. Digital Twin capability can support reuse and greater resource efficiency – a key enabler of the circular economy in the built environment. And seeking to achieve a net net zero economy is going to require an interconnected approach to information management and decision making.

Wider Australian Opportunities for Australia Australia has long been at the vanguard of engineering and technological development. Capitalising on the opportunity of digital and DTws will enable us to build a global leadership position. There is also significant technology sector growth opportunity through the development of innovative DTw technology and broader capability.

Case Study: NSW Spatial DTw About The NSW Spatial DTw (SDT) is a program of work that is being led by DCS Spatial Services which will deliver a cross-sector, collaborative environment that will share and visualise location information, in a 4D model (3D plus time) of the real world, in near real time and will support improved decision making.

Key Actions As part of the Live NSW program, funded through the Digital Restart Fund (DRF), the NSW SDT has been identified by Infrastructure NSW as an enabler of Smart Places and the realisation of the NSW Government’s priorities. It is a part of the future digital form of government which is citizen focused and outcomes driven.

The program will: • • • • •

Deliver spatial data at quality and performance levels that generate savings and efficiencies right across government and industry.

Specifically focus in the first four years on supporting infrastructure planning and delivery as well as emergency management.

Provide opportunities for better support and decisions in relation to environmental management and natural resource management.

Support effective and meaningful data analytics, and provide opportunities for collaboration across academia, industry, business, and government.

Encourage and facilitate engagement between government and community to ensure better customer service.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

2.3 Key Challenges Australia has the potential to be a world leader in DTw, but without holistic planning and implementation of this cutting-edge technology and broader capability our efforts to date have been disjointed.

This white paper examines how Australia can leverage an ecosystem of connected DTws to foster better outcomes from our built and natural environments to tackle global challenges while increasing trade and investment opportunities.

Three key problem areas need to be addressed that will enable Australia to realise maximum value from embracing such an approach, as indicated in the diagram below.

Individual DTws are already being developed across the country, creating efficiencies and better outcomes through improved use of data.

To ensure we capitalise on these new advances, collaboration between states and territories is required for a more unified approach. This approach will help Australia to build on its global leadership position with artificial intelligence, quantum computing and cyber security.

1.

2.

The need to drive better decisions facilitated by better information sharing

The need for guidance on best practice and to support future capability

Poor data access and low-quality information limits the opportunities to share data

There is limited guidance available to support a consistent approach and implementation of DTw’s

•

There is a lack of systematic information and data sharing across jurisdictions which reduces the opportunity to utilise the large pool of data to inform better decision-making for our built and natural environment

•

•

Data of our built and natural environment is typically of poor quality and consistency which hampers data to be presented in consistent formats to allow for sharing and integration between different DTws

Australian businesses can benefit from the implementation of DTw technology to create increased opportunities for global growth, improved services and advanced business strategies. This will not only bolster economic performance domestically but also expand Australia’s exports worldwide; boosting its economy on a larger scale

•

The need for a security minded approach to information and data - hackers have become increasingly skilled in finding ways to access critical information – without guidance Australia is at risk of having key data being in the wrong hands

•

As Australia falls behind the international development of DTw standards, our nation risks missing out on lucrative trade and investment opportunities.

The need for greater national leadership and coordination

Limited capability and uncoordinated DTw programs undermines our international competitiveness •

DTw capability across state governments, cities and infrastructure owners and operators is limited and ad hoc hindering opportunities for innovation and skills growth

•

No current national leadership and governance or strategic plan for DTw and trade and investment opportunities

•

A current marketplace that is uncertain of how to mobilise to varying and inconsistent state government DTw programs and requirements which limits jobs and skills development.

3.

•

Insights, learning and decision making of Australia’s built and natural environment is suboptimal which is resulting in an inefficient, less sustainable and costly built and natural environments.

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

3. The What 3.1 What is a DTw? The phrase ‘DTw’ can mean radically different things to different people.

First of all, it is important to clear up what a DTw is not.

It is not a piece of technology, an IT system, or a single deployable ‘thing’.

DTw reflects a way of working with existing data and new data in novel ways that allow an organisation to improve or enhance its core purpose in ways not hitherto possible.

Many describe a DTw as a virtual representation of the real world, including physical objects, processes, relationships, and behaviours.

If we think about the above DTw definition, and its pursuit to unlock the value of existing and new data assets in impactful ways, we can start to ‘see’ the major parts as being: The digital version of an entity (physical or non-physical) - The DTw is a realistic digital version of an asset, place, landscape, process or other entity. Its processes and systems can closely represent the behaviours and kinetics of the entity, providing an interface with which stakeholders such as policy makers, practitioners, the public, and investors can interact with the key assets and services in a single connected environment.

A platform bringing data to life - The DTw doesn’t replicate or replace existing systems that organisations have already invested in, but rather provides a cross organisation data integrity and integration capability, driving up data quality and enabling new organisation-wide insights into data which have historically been hidden away in isolated places and systems. This highquality integrated data environment will provide the basis for the DTw and its powerful analytic, presentation, and visualisation capability.

Decision support through analysis and simulation - The DTw can host requirements, designs, delivery and management information, and with the addition of sensors, behaviours, and machine learning, is able to create a dynamic model that can mimic, simulate, and predict how assets, landscapes and services will perform in real life.

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

However we need to remember that a DTw is more than just a digital model or representation.

What the digital model or representation can do is as important, so it is useful to break down what key capabilities make up a DTw that can provide solutions to key problems in planning, delivering, and operating our built and natural environment assets and services. These DTw capabilities can be grouped around three key areas, namely:

FIND AND VISUALISE

UNDERSTAND AND ANALYSE

PREDICT AND SIMULATE

Visualise and find data by integrating and connecting disparate systems to help improve information sharing, eliminating data silos, and increasing internal and external engagement:

Analyse and understand the performance of your assets and services to make the right decisions, discover new patterns, and unlock the potential within data with realtime information and an authoritative network:

Simulate and make accurate predictions using powerful statistical, machine learning (ML), deep learning (DL), and artificial intelligence (AI) methods:

•

•

• • •

Advanced Visualisation System integration management Feature creation and extraction

• •

Dashboard and reporting Performance Integration Insights and analytics

•

•

Automation (AI / ML / DL) Simulation / scenario modelling Forecasting

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3.2 The Technical Capability There are as many technical solutions for DTw as there are sectors embracing them, with each different class often having radically different technologies underpinning them.

There is a degree of mainstream consistency for DTw and a typical DTw framework is underpinned by an information ecosystem, as illustrated in Figure 3 below.

This ecosystem consists of having good quality data that can ingest and/or reference data sets, aggregate them, link them and ready them for analysis and visualisation and simulation.

Interface layers

Government interface

Community interface

Other stakeholders

Digital Twin Capability Cyber Security Privacy Ethics

Visualisation

Integration

Connection

Analytics

Simulation

Government Services

Geoscience

Defence

Health

Productivity

Energy

Infrastructure

Climate

Emergency/Disaster

Data Sources Australian Government

Local Government and Open Data

State and Territory Government

Private sector data Partnership

Transportation

Sensors

Businesses

Environment

Projects People

Property

City Council

Figure 3. A generic DTw information ecosystem

Public sector data

Curated Services

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

3.3 The Non-Technical Capability Supplementing the technical capability of DTw is a need to investment in the non-technical components that can support success. Whilst there are various business and human attributes that underpin the non-technical capability, there are three critical elements that have been identified for the purposes of this White Paper, namely leadership, standards and change management.

Leadership Effective DTw outcomes, like many transformation agenda’s, need underlying leadership conditions in place. This includes structures, arrangements and processes to inspire, catalyse and manage the development, adoption and ongoing evolution of DTw capability.

Standards Ensuring the necessary guidance is available through technical and non-technical standards is a proven tool to enable positive change and impact. Having these and other common resources enables standardisation, and the benefits that flow from this, including common purpose, agreed processes and providing the building blocks to scale outcomes.

Organisation and Culture The capability of an organisation and its people can have a profound impact on the ability for a DTw journey, investment and/or project to be successful, or not. How a business or organisation approaches change is but one part. Investing in the capability uplift of its people, it’s systems and the tools it uses is another. Having technical DTw capability in place is critical, but in the end it can only really be activated through the organisation and the people behind it.

Leadership

Standards

Organisation and Culture

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4. Now - The current situation 4.1 A Fragmented Situation DTw efforts in Australia relating to the built and natural environment could be described in many ways, and it would be fair to say that ‘fragmented’ is one way to describe it.

While there have been major steps forward in many jurisdictions, there is a lack of ‘joined up’ action and investment.

The Australian Government is seeking DTw investment for the infrastructure projects it supports, state governments are publishing infrastructure plans with similar aspirations, while local government is approaching DTw in many different ways – both for good and otherwise.

Major DTw programs like DTw Victoria, and the New South Wales spatial DTw have demostrated great leadership. But with no standards, these efforts have forged ahead with what they believe is the right approach.

And while this has happened, some local council’s have invested in strategy development and business case work – again in an environment with little to no standardisation.

But this is common around the world, as standards continue to evolve, and interim measures or practice notes are in short supply.

Industry events have served to fill a gap, but again are based on the interpretation of private sector consultants and other advisers and policy makers seeking to have early impact and show leadership.

This would normally be an issue that gets resolved over time, with leadership coming from the top down from the Australian Government, and/or the key industry bodies representing the professions and/or sectors that are critical to the change.

But to date this has been lacking, or where efforts start, they struggle to maintain momentum.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

4.2 Current State Snapshot Over the last decade, Australia has made considerable progress in adopting technology and data through, Geospatial, Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Cities, but whilst this progress has been impressive – our efforts have been siloed and mainly been driven from a bottom-up perspective.

This is evidenced through the lack of digital policies, programs and funding associated to both national and state based digital built environment initiatives which include BIM, Geospatial, IoT and more recently DTw. The table below provides a qualitative snapshot of Australia’s current state and application of digital built environment initiatives by government entities.

DTw leadership must be founded on a clear strategy or framework for success, to help the government or country realise value from their investment. Therefore the evidence of such strategic frameworks is a key indicator of potential success and the basis for the below current state assessment. The below assessment was also based on known published and publicly available documents.

AGENDA

AUS

WA

SA

VIC

TAS

NSW

ACT

QLD

NT

DTw IoT Geospatial BIM GREEN - Strategy and framework in place

ORANGE - Partial capability - early strategy

RED - Nil or very limited capability - strategy yet to be defined

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4.3 Standards The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines a standard as: “Standards provide rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or for their results, aimed at achieving the optimum degree of order in a given context. It can take many forms. Apart from product standards, other examples include test methods, codes of practice, guideline standards and management systems standards.”

The incorporation of DTw terminology in standards was first references in 2019 when ISO 14033 was released.

In fact, as of 2022, ISO had four standards published which referenced DTws: • • • •

ISO 14033 (Quantitative Environmental Information) ISO 15704 (Requirements for enterprise-referencing architectures) ISO 18101-1 (Oil and Gas interoperability) ISO 30146 (Smart City ICT Indicators)

And, more interestingly, one of these (ISO/TS 18101:2019, 3.9) saw the first definition for a DTw included within an ISO document: “digital asset on which services can be performed that provide value to an organization” Today, multiple DTw standards efforts are underway via two ISO technical committees - ISO/TC 184/SC 4 and ISO/IEC JCT 1/AG 11 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC41.

ISO/TC 184/SC 4 are also currently developing four standards on DTws pertaining to manufacturing.

There are four key ISO/IEC projects that require mention: 1.

2.

3.

4.

ISO/IEC AWI 30172 DTw — Use cases ISO/IEC AWI 30173 DTw — Concepts and terminology PWI JTC 1-SC41-5 ED1 DTw - Reference Architecture PWI JTC 1-SC41-7 DTw – Maturity model

However until the release of ISO/IEC 30173, a version of a definition that seems to be commonly used, and in alignment with ISO/IEC 30173 is “a digital representation of a real entity or process.”

But it is critical that the ‘digital representation’ element of the definition is not the sole focus.

What the digital representation can do – its capabilities – is often lost in the discussion of DTw definitions. Thus the importance of highlighting capability as a critical enabler for DTw outcomes.

Here in Australia the Australia New Zealand Land Information Council (ANZLIC) have developed their own definition (as depicted below). However, while this definition is not suitable for ISO as it was not designed to meet these requirements, the inclusion of “realistic digital representation” might help enhance the ISO definition: “A dynamic digital representation of a real world object or system” [SOURCE: Principles for Spatially Enabled DTws of the Built and Natural Environment in Australia]

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

ISO suggests that up to 80% of global trade (USD $4 trillion annually) is affected by standards or associated technical regulations. For this reason, the creation and use of consistent standards is considered fundamental for the medium to long-term sustainability of the global digital economy.

As an example, international standards in information and communication technology have increased interoperability and security across technology platforms, decreased barriers to trade, ensured quality and enhanced public and user trust in digital and data related products and services.

In Australia, companies comply with a myriad of regulatory frameworks pertaining to safety and security (for electrical goods and medical devices, for instance), and are subject to competition and privacy laws in the jurisdictions in which they operate.

As such, approaches to governing the use of DTws through standards (and other means) needs to align with the scope of existing laws and regulatory requirements, both locally and internationally.

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5. New - Change is underway 5.1 It’s Happening While DTws for the built and natural environment have been around in principle for many years, only recently has there been the development of strategies and business cases to guide strategic action and investment.

August 2021 Cities such as Hobart, Melbourne, Launceston, and state governments such as New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia have all recently acted to build their DTw journey in a strategic way.

Asset owners and operators such as the Victorian Department of Transport, Sydney Water and Sydney Metro have also done the same.

Reforms to meet Australia’s future infrastructure needs This strategic work provides a strong foundation from which Australia can build from – and become a global leader in DTws.

The figure below provides a partial snapshot of the Government reform that is calling for DTw, government guidance that has been tabled and also industry representatives and related industry driven guidance documents that have been published.

August 2021

Government Reform

Reforms to meet Australia’s future infrastructure needs 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan

Foundations for a Stronger Tomorrow

Volume 1

Victoria’s infrastructure strategy 2021-2051

State Infrastructure Strategy

STATE INFRASTRUCTURE STRATEGY JUNE 2022

2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan Priorities and Reforms to strengthen our nation’s future

Principles for Spatially Enabled Digital Twins of the Built and Natural Environment in Australia

Government Guidance

December 2019

DIGITAL TWINS

An ABAB position paper January 2021 Digital Twin: A realistic digital representation of assets, processes or systems in the built or natural environment. The complexity of that representation, and degree of connectedness, varies depending on maturity.

www.abab.net.au

Industry Guidance

DATA LEADERSHIP GUIDANCE NOTE Digital Twin

DIGITAL TWINS, FOR ALL The Australia | New Zealand Digital Twin Blueprint

April 2020 DRAFT FOR CONSULTATION_JULY 2021

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digitaltwinhub.global

July 2022

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

On policy, State governments are leading on action and investment in building DTw capability, platforms and use cases. Local government too is mobilising, with much focus around strategy and business case development.

At a national level, Infrastructure Australia has clearly identified ‘digital by default’ as the desired infrastructure norm, with clear actions and programmatic intent to enable DTw as a core opportunity for the sector.

In the private sector, practitioners are slowly retooling, and building on their foundational capability through legacy investments in GIS, BIM and broader digital engineering and planning skills and platforms.

On standards, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41 has the role of growing standardisation in the area of Internet of Things and DTw, including their related technologies. And Australia has strong representation and participation in this international work.

Its focus is to create horizontal and flexible foundational standards such as those referenced in the previous section, around items such as terminology, maturity models, case studies and reference architecture.

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

5.2 Existing and Aligned Efforts Building Information Modelling (BIM) is currently a growing influence on how major infrastructure and property projects are designed and assets managed. However the history of BIM is one that suffered slow and little uptake (and impact) in its early years, taking over a decade or more to gather momentum from the ‘demand side’. While for approximately 40 years the supply side has been innovating and primmed for action[i], the demand for BIM continues to be slow.

In 2018 the State of Queensland was the first government entity in the country to establish a whole of government BIM approach, requiring all major government projects to implement BIM by 2023[ii]. This was then followed by the Victoria[iii] and New South Wales[iv] governments who respectively published various digital engineering related frameworks.

The Australian BIM Advisory Board is also playing a strategic role in supporting the BIM community engage with the DTw agenda with its 2021 publication ‘DTws: An ABAB Position Paper’[v].

The geospatial sector has developed a leadership position with the DTw agenda through multiple international, national and state-based efforts. The Australia and New Zealand Land Infromation Council (ANZLIC) published the document ‘Principles for Spatially Enabled DTws of the Built and Natural Environment in Australia’[vi].

The work around that document and the collaborative nature of the ANZLIC members has led to continued leadership in the form of spatial DTw programs, including the formation of DTw Victoria, the build out of the NSW spatial DTw, the Southeast Queensland DTw workbench and strategy work by Landgate in Western Australia.

Combined with the global leadership of the Open Geospatial Consortium and its series of events, the geospatial community remains primed to support DTw advancements in Australia and beyond.

The Internet of Things (IoT) sector through the leadership of the Internet of Things Alliance Australia (IOTAA) is championing the role of connected things as being a platform for the greater frequency and fidelity of data to flow for DTw ingestion. The IOTAA has commenced a DTw program and is looking to articulate through reference materials and industry engagement the role that IoT can play in supporting DTw. This effort by the industry’s peak body is supported by foundational IoT policy for example by the New South Wales (NSW) Government[i], and other organisations like the Australian Computer Society (ACS) who have published IoT guidance[ii].

Over the past 5-7 years the smart cities agenda has seen a concerted attempt to evolve the delivery of infrastructure and services using digital technology and data solutions. Multiple levels of government and the private sector have invested in emerging solutions based on the promise of delivering enhanced outcomes through greater efficiency, better value and enhanced customer experience.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

5.3 Any Opportunity Requires Capability When stakeholders were consulted during the development of this white paper, the following question was asked (among others): “What do think are the most important capabilities in achieving successful DTw outcomes?”

Survey participants were asked to rank in order of importance the following three responses: • • •

Business capability – eg. leadership, collaboration, adaptability Human capability – eg. Skills. Mindset, collaboration Technical capability – eg. Technology, analytics, modelling

The following responses were given, in terms of the highest priority for capability development: 1. business capability 2. human capability 3. technical capability.

To unlock the opportunity of DTw nationally, and in order for Australia to lead on this agenda, capability must be at the centre.

What are the most important DTw capability categories?

How would you score our current capability (for government)?

How would you score our current capability (for the private sector)?

Where could DTw standards most help?

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

5.4 But What Else?

As much as there is significant effort underway nationally and internationally on DTw advancement, it remains a challenging environment for any sector and any nation to truly thrive.

Internationally there is standardisation work through ISO and IEC that is bringing much needed harmonisation to key components of DTw, such as definition, benefits and maturity.

To go further and state that international harmonisation more broadly is occurring, would be unconvincing.

In Australia the situation is not much better. While great efforts exist in parts of the private sector (eg. oil, gas and mining) and government (eg. VIC Government, NSW Government), there is little harmonisation, consistency or coordinated strategy to unlock the value of DTw capability for the nation.

To help frame a series of recommendations, the following elements have been used: • • •

Leadership and governance Enablers, such as standards, capability and technology A national pilot program to test the opportunity and further understand the benefits

These are further discussed in the next section.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

6. Next - Recommendations for market leadership 6.1 Navigating Next To help move beyond the current level of fragmentation, and to overcome the likely barriers to being a national and global leader, the following three key problem statements have been framed through research and stakeholder engagement.

These include:

1. There is no current national leadership and governance or strategic plan for DTw success

2. The current development of DTw standards (for Australia) relies predominantly on international efforts

3. There is a struggling marketplace that is uncertain of how to mobilise (early action and investment)

Recommendations responding to each of these have been developed in the following pages, and are under three categories:

National Sponsor

Standards

Governance/Working Group

National Strategy

LEADERSHIP & GOVERNANCE

Capability

National Pilot

Technology Investments

THE ENABLERS

ACTIVATING

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

6.2 Leadership And Governance To be effective nationally, and position itself as a global leader in DTw, Australia must put in place a number of leadership and governance arrangements.

The foundational leadership and governance recommendations are to: • • •

Identify an Australian Government Sponsor for DTw Establish a governance body and industry working group Develop a National DTw Strategy

National DTw Sponsor In an emerging market where both policy and practice is yet to fully mature, government leadership is critical to build early catalytic action.

Whether it be the development of a sector strategy or other guidance document, pilot programs or grant funding for early innovators, such actions are best delivered by government entities.

But above all, government leadership and a framework for DTw implementation facilitates accountability and continual performance improvement.

But the critical question is, for a cross-cutting and multi-sector opportunity like DTw, who should lead?

Australia is yet to formally nominate and establish a national DTw ‘sponsor’ whose role is to stimulate this early market activity and guide opportunity for the nation. However there has been early signs from the likes of Infrastructure Australia, ANZLIC and Geoscience Australia that DTw capability is of critical importance to the nation’s ability to generate value from data.

For Australia to realise the aspiration of national and international DTw leadership, it is essential a sponsor be identified, comprising a relevant Minister or senior bureaucrat and a department or portfolio that can drive impact.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

Governance Body and Industry Working Group To support the decisions and actions of the national sponsor, a governance body and industry working group should be established.

The Australian Government has multiple opportunities to establish a governance body or build off existing efforts that are already in place.

For example, the Digital and Data Ministers Meeting is a forum to establish proposals for better cross-government collaboration on data and digital transformation to drive smarter service delivery and improved policy outcomes.

Hosted by the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, ANZLIC (The Spatial Information Council) is another governance entity that exists, albeit with little funding.

Infrastructure Australia is another potential government entity that could support a national sponsor.

A governance entity should be established and an industry working group appointed to support the national DTw sponsor. An existing governance entity/forum or newly created one should follow the sponsor’s appointment.

In the United Kingdom, the Centre for Digital Built Britain was created to fulfil the role of governance body and industry working group combined and was a partnership between the UK Government and Cambridge University. This partnership led to a funded program of engagement and knowledge exchange, standards development and capacity building across multiple sectors, uplifting the UK marketplace and positioning it as a global leader.

National DTw Strategy The development of a National DTw Strategy should be stewarded by the Australian government via the sponsor and Industry Working Group. This document would focus on the goal of identifying the actions and investments to help catalyse a DTw marketplace for Australia.

The Strategy would be considered a foundation for subsequent work by other levels of government, industry and academia to build off.

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

The Strategy should articulate a suite of goals, priorities and recommendations to help realise the value of DTw capability across multiple sectors and geographies, and identity opportunities for building strong demand for DTw capability, and supply side organisations that can support the delivery of best DTw solutions and support.

One focus for the Strategy should be to help shape DTw standards, technical and strategic guidance materials and policy and programs to activate the DTw market.

The Strategy would be used as a critical enabler for market transformation and leadership by helping: • • • • •

Policy makers shape their policy making, program design and support Practitioners and advisors align their advice and support to clients Vendors align their products and services, and their evolving innovations Academics identify research opportunities, in particular the necessary longitudinal studies to help build the business case and value proposition Asset owners and operators seek opportunities to improve performance and direct investments.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

6.3 Standards, Capability and Technology Following the establishment of the leadership and governance arrangements there are a range of key enabling activities that need to be advanced, which are focused on: • • •

Creating a standards-led environment for policy makers and practitioners Enhancing the nation’s capability to advance DTw opportunities Investing in emerging DTw technology

Standards A DTw Standards Roadmap should be developed to help identify current and future standards that are required to deliver on the vision of a national DTw program.

Mapping current ISO/IEC standards would be an important part of this process, understanding the scope and timing of ISO/IEC 30173 (Concepts and Terminology) which is scheduled to be published in 2024 and ISO/IEC 30172 (Use Cases) scheduled for publication in 2024 also.

As well as the ISO/IEC standards currently under development, it will be necessary to understand future ISO/IEC standards that are emerging, such as DTw Maturity (2025) and DTw Reference Architecture (2025).

The Roadmap would then recommend Australian Standards that would help support a national DTw program, which may include for example: At a ‘strategic’ level: • •

DTw Business Case - applications, asset lifecycle scope DTw Strategy - similar to ISO/AS 37106

At a ‘process’ level: • • •

Data Architecture and Activation - (based on core capabilities) reference architecture Data Management and Assurance - Data Sources and Structure and Quality Decision making with DTws

At a technical level: • •

DTw Interoperability Privacy and Security for DTws

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

DTw strategies, roadmaps and business cases are being procured by government across Australia right now. Private sector consultants and advisors and technology vendors are offering services and solutions to match this early demand. However, there are no DTw standards available to the marketplace that really address this issue. This is a concern for government, industry and the community alike.

With no standards, common approach or benchmark on what good looks like for DTw, realising the full potential of DTw capability to infrastructure and service delivery could be compromised.

While the development of key international standards for DTw is underway, with the first ones anticipated to the published within the next 18-24 months, there was a sense of urgency expressed during the stakeholder engagement process that at least some consistent definitional language and approach is required now.

It is recommended that a strategic DTw standard is urgently developed and published to enable a consistent approach to strategy development and business case planning as a minimum.

This would support the DTw mobilisation efforts across multiple sectors that seems to be increasing, particularly for local and state and territory governments.

Australia’s leading representative bodies in digital, data and built and natural environments should be convened by Standards Australia to prepare this strategic document, which offers definition, scope and process-related guidance to the marketplace. This would include organisations such as The Internet of Things Alliance Australia, the DTw Partnership, the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council, SSSI and others.

This standard (or guidance document) should include as a mimumum guidance to develop a DTw road map, strategy, and other components, including: • • • • •

Clear strategic assessment of the application of a DTw Producing a strategic business case Providing a delivery strategy Producing a full business case Developing a detailed implementation and procurement plan.

Incorporating this DTw guidance into a standard or similar document would position Australia as an international leader in this element of capability development.

Capability During the stakeholder engagement process associated with the development of this white paper capability was identified as a critical enabler for building the nations leadership and impact in DTw. The figure on the next page identifies just some of the responses to questions, in this instance - “How would you score the current capability of government?”

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

Standards Australia should convene academia, government and private sector representatives to create a pathway to the creation of a Framework for DTw skills and competency for the National DTw Program.

Such a framework would not only provide academia with an opportunity to create structured curricular for undergraduate and post graduate courses, but for the existing workforce to undergo continuing professional development to further its skills and create employment opportunities.

Having this Framework underpinned by relevant DTw standards will be essential to ensure the nation’s capability, capacity and innovation aligns with international activity and offers opportunity for Australia to be competitive and lead the world in DTw capability, technology and best practice.

Technology Investment The Australian Government is committed to investing in and advancing research and development around critical technologies that help boost Australia’s competitive advantage internationally, enhance our productivity and strengthen jobs across our supply chains.

Some of the technologies the government is seeking to invest in include: • • • • • • • •

Advanced data analytics Artificial intelligence Machine learning Advanced communications such as 5G and 6G Quantum sensors Drones Satellites Autonomous systems operations

Each of these has a critical role to play in the suite of DTw capabilities. The strategic questions that all sectors interested in advancing DTw should be answering are: • •

What is the leadership position with key technology enablers (lidar, 5g etc) that we can build off of to help build an international leadership position with DT? What investment/programmatic areas in technology innovation could Australia invest in to accelerate national and international DTw capability?

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Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

6.4 National DTw Pilot Program It is recommended that the Australian Government support a national DTw pilot program to interrogate the benefits of DTw and the enabling capabilities across human, business, and technology spheres.

A dedicated proof of concept project(s) will explore the potential benefits from developing standards-based DTw models of the built and natural environment and will set out some of the challenges and security risks involved in doing so.

Deep engagement with state and territory governments, local council’s and land authorities will be critical. Standards Australia would use the program as a sandbox to not only create standardisation documents, but also identify opportunities to link siloed standards that already exist – for example smart cities, interoperability, IoT and geospatial.

Case Study: UK National DTw Programme About The National DTw programme (NDTp) was run by the Centre for Digital Built Britain, a partnership between the University of Cambridge and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Launched by HM Treasury in July 2018, the NDTp was set up to deliver key recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission’s 2017 ‘Data for the Public Good Report’.

Key Actions Activity focused on aligning industry and government behind a common definition and approach to information management, so that data can be shared openly and securely between future DTws. This included: • • • • • •

Gemini Principles (2018), a paper setting out the proposed principles to guide the national DTw and the information management framework that will enable it; DFTG roadmap (2018), a prioritised plan for five core streams responsible for the delivery of the information management framework; DTw Hub launch (2019), a web-enabled community for early adopters of DTws to learn through sharing and progress by doing; Flourishing Systems (2020), a paper advocating a shift in vision for infrastructure that is peoplefocused and system-based.

Pathway towards an IMF (2020), a technical paper and a summary paper on the proposed technical core for the information management framework.

Gemini Programme (2020), this programme enabled the development of resources for the DT Hub community to expand the reach of the Information Management Framework and the NDTp. The Gemini programme brought together people and organisations who volunteered their time and resources to develop materials for use by the DT Hub community.

What’s Next Centre for Digital Built Britain completed its five-year mission and closed its doors at the end of September 2022.

Digital Twin White Paper March 2023

7. Appendices A- Stakeholder Organisations Consulted Individuals representing the following organisations participated in the survey associated with this white paper.

Bennett + Bennett Group

KPMG Australia

Bob Co

LivePerson Inc

British Standards Institution

McConnell Dowell

City of Perth

Mott MacDonald

City of Port Phillip

nbs

City of Yarra

ParKam

CoDigital

RMIT University

Department for Infrastructure & Transport

SMEC

dRofus

Spacesium

formerly Centre for Digital Built Britain

Town of Bassendean

FrontierSI

Transport for NSW

Greater Cities Commission

V/Line Corporation

GHD

Wellington city council

GWI

Willow Inc

Honeywell

Wipro Technologies

Hurley Development

Women in BIM

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B - References and Further Information 1. https://www.csiro.au/en/news/news-releases/2018/australias-315bn-opportunity 2. https://www.industry.gov.au/publications/australias-artificial-intelligence-action-plan 3. https://www.letsbuild.com/blog/a-history-of-bim​ 4. https://www.statedevelopment.qld.gov.au/industry/infrastructure/infrastructure-planningand-policy/building-information-modelling​ 5.

http://www.opv.vic.gov.au/Digital-Build/Victorian-Digital-Asset-Strategy​

6. https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/digital-engineering/digital-engineering-framework-0​ 7. https://www.abab.net.au/​ 8. https://www.anzlic.gov.au/resources/principles-spatially-enabled-digital-twins-built-andnatural-environment-australia​ 9. https://www.digital.nsw.gov.au/policy/internet-of-things#:~:text=NSW%20Government’s%20 Internet%20of%20Things%20Policy&text=encourage%20innovation%20with%20Internet%20 of,Internet%20of%20Things%2Denabled%20solutions.

10. https://www.acs.org.au/insightsandpublications/reports-publications/securing-the-internetof-things-for-a-smart-city.html

C - Digital Twin Fact Sheet for Australia

The Digital Twin Opportunity for Australia WHAT IS A DIGITAL TWIN?

A digital twin can bring together data in order to visualise, analyse and simulate services that can be performed to provide value to the nation.

Examples of types of data that can support Digital Twins: Water

Carbon

Power

A digital twin pilot would demonstrate the benefits for sharing data between jurisdictions

CO2

Communications

Rail

Transport

Road

A Digital Twin that unifies separate systems can answer questions such as: Is it possible to: •

Avoid building a new road by simulating the roads performance first digitally to assess its performance

•

To optimise the design of an asset before commiting to buildling this asset

•

Reduce energy consumption by up to 10% by analysing the performance of an asset and taking necessary action

AN OPPORTUNITY TO LEAD

Australia has world leading artificial intelligence, quantum computing and cyber expertise. This gives us the opportunity to be at the forefront of Digital Twin technology.

Machine learning, artificial intelligence and other technologies process data and produce insights

Security is at its core, and not all information should be in the public domain

WHY DOES AUSTRALIA NEED A NATIONAL APPROACH TO DIGITAL TWIN?

A national Digital Twin would enable Australia to develop and implement a common information framework, including a reference data library, protocols for security, access and information sharing and channels for assets to speak to one another such that government and industry can make more informed decisions about the future.

Reduce our carbon footprint Improve policy making Boost quality of life for Australian citizens Increase resilience in the face of cyber threats Improve responsiveness in natural disasters Improve Australia’s global competitiveness