This interview was recorded by Todd Danielson, the editorial director of Informed Infrastructure. You can watch the full interview by visiting iimag.link/eIxlw.

Dan Isaacs is general manager and CTO of the Digital Twin Consortium, and chief strategy officer for Object Management Group.

There Is a Definition

When the term “digital twin” comes up in conversation, whether from technologists, engineers or programmers, a common complaint is that the term has so many possible meanings that it becomes a relatively useless description. The Digital Twin Consortium (DTC), which describes itself as “The Authority in Digital Twin,” would disagree, as it meticulously created a definition it believes transcends all the different use cases for a digital twin (which are countless): “A digital twin is an integrated data-driven virtual representation of real-world entities and processes, with synchronized interaction at a specified frequency and fidelity.”

As general manager and CTO of the DTC and with a lengthy career across a variety of key technologies, Dan Isaacs is very familiar with everything a digital twin can do as well as their value and the purpose of its namesake consortium.

“The mission [of DTC] is really to cut through the hype of digital twins through demonstrated real-world applications that showcase the value of the digital twin at the different phases of its lifecycle,” explains Isaacs.

Enabler to Digital Transformation

Digital twin technology is used for a wide variety of use cases in many fields for digital engineering, simulation, monitoring and operational efficiency. Although the DTC definition is meant to cover its use in all cases, different fields require different tools and fidelity in their digital twins. To help build consensus and standardization in each specific area, DTC uses a variety of “working groups” to foster collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation.

Currently there are 14 working groups: Academia and Research; Aerospace and Defense; Agriculture, Food and Beverage; Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Operations (AECO); Artificial Intelligence (AI) Joint Working Group; Digital Engineering; Financial Technology; Healthcare and Life Sciences; Manufacturing; Mobility and Transportation; Natural Resources; Pharma and Regulatory; Security and Trustworthiness; and Telecommunications.

Many of the processes and formats for idea sharing and collaboration were fine-tuned through decades at the “umbrella community” Object Management Group (OMG) Standards Development Organization, which was founded in 1989 to create computer-modeling and other technology standards.

Isaacs has been with DTC since its formation in 2020 and has seen it grow from five working groups to 14 and its membership grow from 50 to more than 200 entities worldwide, with a new member joining nearly every week.

“We see digital twins across virtually every major industry,” he notes. “And that’s a testament to the fact that digital twin is a true enabler, a key enabler to digital transformation.”

Digital Twins for Engineering

The AECO working group was created quickly after DTC’s founding and has been one of the most prominent and visible users of digital twins. It has created numerous white papers on topics such as reality capture, locational capabilities and context, and BIM. Its currently working on a paper looking at the intersecting roles of digital twins and BIM.

“The AECO standard has been BIM, and a digital twin really brings a BIM to life,” notes Isaacs.

He also explains that the AECO working group has a lot of material posted on the DTC website at www.digitaltwinconsortium.org, where anyone can learn more and consider joining the consortium to help make further progress toward consensus and standardization.

Maintaining Momentum

According to Isaacs, 2025 started with a focus on “testbed” implementation, where “the rubber hits the road” and hardware, software, systems of systems and applications all combine to demonstrate the value of digital twins in real-world applications. In the space of nine months, DTC announced 21 such testbeds involving 12 different countries, which are effectively “proof of value implementations that can scale directly to production.”

He adds that more than 80 percent of these testbeds incorporate some form of AI—they follow the dual development flow of digital twins and AI agents as released and publicly announced on the DTC website.

“There is no other consortium that is member driven like this that has the depth, the breadth, the level of expertise and experience in developing, deploying, operating and maintaining digital twins as this consortium brings together,” says Isaacs

Author’s Note: Since this interview, the OMG was acquired by EDM Association, creating the world’s largest association for data, software, systems and standards professionals.