The Tour d’ Horizon of Data Law Implications of Digital Twins
Living Heart and Living Brain
Dassault Systèmes created DTs for two organs – the brain and the heart – aimed at early diagnosis and treatment of related ailments. 7 The Living Brain initiative uses patientspecific data, such as brain structure, biomarkers( e. g. cortex thinning, white matter), and electrophysiological data, to diagnose conditions like Alzheimer’ s and epilepsy. The Living Heart initiative models a patient ' s heart, replicating the electrical system that controls heart muscle contraction.
1.2 PROCESS DT
Process DTs replicate entire systems and the relationships between process steps, using data from interconnected physical components. As per industry research,“ process twin”( Process DT), creates a digital environment with multiple interconnected components, assets, and system twins. For instance, Process DT for the entire shop floor can give a comprehensive view of all machines, enabling more informed decisions about repairs without disrupting operations. 8 A few use-cases are discussed below.
1.2.1 MANUFACTURING
A Process DT of a manufacturing unit may be created to streamline and manage the process. A few examples are below.
Factory of the Future
Mars Inc. used DTs to address package over-spilling by feeding sensor data from physical machines into analytics models which allowed real-time monitoring and adjustments. Later, Mars partnered with Accenture to optimize global production through( i) real-time machine monitoring and( ii) performance prediction using analytics [ 8 ].
Azure Digital Twins
Microsoft offers Azure Digital Twins as a platform-as-a-service for creating DTs of physical environments. The DT presents a 3D visual model of the environment, with an IoT hub device enabling live data transfer from sensors. 9
7
Meet Your Virtual Twin, Dassault Systèmes. https:// www. 3ds. com / virtual-twin / life-sciences-healthcare / meet-your-virtual-twin
8
The Process Digital Twin: A step towards operational excellence, Microsoft Corporation – Digital Twin Vision. https:// info. microsoft. com / rs / 157-GQE-382 / images / Digital % 20Twin % 20Vision. pdf
9
What is Azure Digital Twins?, Microsoft. https:// learn. microsoft. com / en-us / azure / digital-twins / overview
74 May 2025