Digital technology has radically transformed global industries over the past few decades. Starting with the emergence of digital twins and evolving into Dassault Systèmes’ virtual twin technology, let’s briefly explore the history of this technology, its underlying principles and the visionaries who have shaped its development.
The concept of digital twins was born during NASA’s Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which was famously documented in an award-winning movie in 1995. Apollo 13 was a crucial part of NASA’s Apollo program, and it aimed to be the third lunar landing mission. However, a catastrophic malfunction— an oxygen tank explosion—forced the mission to be aborted. Despite the failure, the astronauts were successfully brought back to Earth, marking a “successful failure.” Engineers faced critical issues and used physical replicas of the systems onboard to test solutions and make decisions. These replicas weren’t digital yet, but the concept of creating a mirrored system to solve problems was clear.
In 2002, Dr. Michael Grieves, then a professor at the University of Michigan, began developing the idea of the digital twin while working on Product Lifecycle Management (PLM). During this time, he collaborated with John Vickers of NASA, who helped coin the term “digital twin” to describe a computer-based representation of a physical system. Grieves formally introduced the concept in 2003 through a presentation and supporting paper, defining the digital twin as the integration of design, simulation, and operational data within a unified digital environment.
Over the next decade, digital twins gained traction across industries. By the 2010s, organizations in aerospace, energy, and manufacturing were using them to simulate performance, optimize maintenance, and predict failures in complex systems. NASA applied digital twins to spacecraft performance modeling, while the gas turbine industry leveraged them to improve testing reliability. These early wins laid the foundation for broader adoption in healthcare, infrastructure, and transportation.
As digital twins evolved, so did their capabilities—and limitations. Originally conceived as passive, information-centric models rooted in PLM, the concept began to stretch to include autonomy, learning, and real-time responsiveness. This conceptual sprawl led Grieves to introduce a new term in the 2020s: the intelligent digital twin (IDT).
Mainstream Adoption and Industry Impact
Where traditional digital twins merely mirrored physical assets, IDTs were designed to be active, adaptive, and goal-seeking. They assist decision-making, simulate future states, and continuously operate in tandem with the real world using AI and analytics.
If a digital twin is a map, an IDT is a smart co-pilot—learning, adapting, and rerouting in real time.
This wasn’t a simple rebrand. It was a deliberate clarification—a way to preserve the integrity of the original digital twin concept while naming the richer, AI-enabled constructs emerging in industry and research. In many ways, Grieves’ Intelligent Digital Twin formally articulates what Dassault Systèmes has already been advancing through the Virtual Twin: an intelligent, adaptive system designed to simulate, collaborate and shape the future in real-time. In essence, the Virtual Twin is a fully realized IDT—brought to life at scale and across industries.
“A virtual twin is a structured, digital environment that brings together models, assumptions, and data to simulate future possibilities—helping experts collaborate and make better decisions before acting in the real world.”
– Garrett Thurston, Principal Technical Fellow
Soon, digital twins were increasingly used across the manufacturing and aerospace sectors. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) utilized this technology to shorten design cycles, improve maintenance and streamline operations. For instance, NASA expanded its use of digital twins for spacecraft performance simulations, while the gas turbine engine industry adopted the technology to enhance testing and maintenance reliability.
Enabling High Assurance Systems and Regulatory Compliance
The adoption of Virtual Twin technology is not just accelerating in commercial domains—it’s becoming essential in defense and safety-critical environments. Government and regulatory bodies are increasingly embracing model-based approaches to ensure mission readiness, acquisition rigor, and technical assurance across complex systems.
The U.S. Department of Defense has embedded digital engineering into its acquisition policy through foundational instructions such as DODI 5000.88 (Engineering of Defense Systems) and DODI 5000.97 (Digital Engineering). These instructions mandate model-based systems engineering (MBSE), mission engineering, and integrated digital lifecycle management— not only throughout acquisition and sustainment, but across the entire defense value network.
At the same time, FAA certification pathways and aerospace OEM assurance frameworks now rely heavily on digital artifacts that are traceable, verifiable, and testable. Dassault Systèmes’ Virtual Twin technology is purpose-built to meet these requirements, enabling validated, collaborative environments that reduce risk while accelerating certification and compliance.
The DoD’s Digital Engineering Strategy and the evolving Digital Engineering Body of Knowledge (DEBoK) reinforce a unified message: digital connectivity is no longer optional—it is a strategic imperative. Virtual Twins serve as the connective tissue between requirement, behavior, and performance—unlocking the visibility, agility, and trust needed to deliver resilient, assured, and future-ready systems.
Compliance and innovation are no longer opposites—in regulated industries, they are becoming one and the same.
Evolution to virtual twins
Enter the virtual twin
In 2014, Dassault Systèmes introduced the concept through its 3DEXPERIENCE platform—not as a mirror of the physical, but as a medium for simulating and shaping the future. This was a shift from reflection to orchestration. By 2016, groundbreaking projects like Virtual Singapore demonstrated the scale and ambition of the idea—modeling entire urban ecosystems to inform planning, resilience and innovation. Then, in 2020, Dassault Systèmes’ CEO Bernard Charlès formally distinguished the virtual twin from the digital twin, framing it not as a mere evolution, but as an emerging technical capability uniquely suited to imagine what could be and to engineer that future sustainably.
Virtual twins integrate multi-physics simulations, artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time data to craft precise and responsive digital replicas. These models enable observation, analysis, testing and optimization within sophisticated virtual environments that connect digital innovations to virtual worlds in real life.
Digital twin vs virtual twin
To truly grasp the leap from digital twins to virtual twins, let’s compare their functionalities directly.
| Feature | Digital twin | Virtual twin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A digital copy of a physical object or process | A dynamic, interactive model of real-world systems |
| Focus | Observation and basic simulation | Advanced simulation, testing and optimization |
| Data Integration | Static, sensor-driven data | Real-time data, multi-physics modeling and AI |
| User Experience | Limited interactivity | Full immersion and dynamic interaction |
| Application Scope | Single processes or products | Entire systems, environments or ecosystems |
Virtual twins stand out as the next step in modeling and optimizing not just single components, but entire ecosystems. This evolution enables industries to simulate and improve virtually any aspect of their operations, making virtual worlds for real life a reality and enabling users to:
- Preserve and curate knowledge at any level
- Drive scalable, model-based decision processes
- Explore alternative futures under uncertainty
- Inform strategy with experience, not just data
Put simply, virtual twins give us the ability to create “memories of the future“—shared experiences across disciplines that increase our wisdom, not just our knowledge. This is the virtual twin frontier—not just a technological landscape, but a human one.
Reshaping industries
Dassault Systèmes is at the forefront of innovation in virtual twin science & technology, redefining possibilities across multiple industries. Using the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, organizations are now able to explore virtual worlds for real life, applying this science, methodology and enabling technology to real-world challenges like sustainability, efficiency and optimization.
For instance, virtual twins can empower cities to address complex urban scenarios rich with human, ecological and other factors and implications. From monitoring infrastructure and regulating traffic to assessing environmental impacts, virtual worlds make it possible to model entire urban ecosystems dynamically. Beyond urban planning, industries such as energy, healthcare and transportation are exploring how virtual twins can optimize supply chains, enhance medical device design and even model renewable energy systems.
These digital ecosystems form the foundation of the generative economy, which empowers long-term, sustainable solutions rather than short-term gains.
Virtual universes
Virtual twins use advanced technologies like AI, machine learning and IoT to provide real-time insights and help solve tough problems. Dassault Systèmes combines digital tools with real-world systems that help us plan for the future. These “virtual universes” act like tools to explore possibilities, make smart choices and work toward a healthier planet.
A virtual twin can represent a machine, a supply chain or a city plan. But a virtual universe goes further—it shows the bigger picture, including how decisions may affect people, resources and the environment over time.
Powered by AI and machine learning, virtual twins enable collaboration and deliver real-time insights—unlocking new ways to solve complex challenges. By bridging digital innovation with physical systems, Dassault Systèmes is leading the way in creating Virtual Worlds for Real Life with the evolution of Virtual Univ+rses.
Virtual universes are lenses through which we explore futures—tools that help us choose wisely, model responsibly and move toward outcomes worth inhabiting. It places the twin inside a living system of stakeholders, resources, policies and possible worlds. The virtual twin may simulate a machine, a supply chain or a city plan. But the virtual universe simulates the meaning and context of those models—the environment in which decisions echo, evolve and reveal their human impact.
Where the twin reflects performance, the universe refracts purpose. It’s not just a reflection of what is, but a simulation of what could be.
What is a generative economy?
Virtual universes also act as catalysts for the generative economy—a system designed to generate and sustain long-term well-being, equity, resilience and a healthier planet. It contrasts with extractive or purely profit-maximizing models by embedding purpose-driven design into the structure of ownership, finance and governance. The different models empower teams across various disciplines to experiment with solutions, predict future outcomes and make data-informed innovation decisions. They create space to innovate modularly, explore ‘what-if’ futures, and collaborate across disciplines.
The prospects are boundless. From sustainable urban development to innovating future transportation systems, this technology represents the next chapter in human innovation. With Dassault Systèmes’ innovative digital technology, we can rethink what is achievable, transforming how we design, build and interact with the physical world.
As we step into the age of virtual twins and universes, we are not just building technologies — we are designing the very futures we want to inhabit. The future is coming. Will we shape it—or be shaped by it?
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Are you ready to explore how Dassault Systèmes’ Virtual twin technology can shape the future? Explore the possibilities with these cutting-edge solutions and see how they bring virtual worlds to real life.
NAM Services Architecture, Senior Industry Services Director