The neologism ‘digital twin’ appeals to our intuitive understanding of a digital replica of real processes. The analogy of the twin creates the idea of great similarity – even if not complete sameness. In fact, this is exactly the point: a digital twin is a virtual representation of a material or immaterial object in the digital world that is as exact as possible. It consists of models, simulations, algorithms and services that describe the properties and behaviour of the real object.
The concept of the digital twin enables communication between the real and virtual object. Data flows from the real to the virtual object, while information flows from the virtual to the real object. By comparing and analysing