How Digital Twins Create Immersive Experiences

“Virtual Twins” have long been standard in industrial production and research due to their efficiency. Now, they are conquering other application areas, especially the events and marketing sector.

Future customers or trade show visitors can look forward to entirely new and exciting worlds of experience.

Analysts and tech enthusiasts are always on the lookout for the “Next Big Thing.” Unnoticed by the general public, the candidate for this might already be here: the “digital twin.” Although this term has been around for several years, it has mostly played a background role in specialized articles, conferences, or within the practices of the industrial sector. According to a study by the American consulting firm Gartner, more than half of all large companies worldwide were using digital twins as early as 2021. Today, that number is likely significantly higher. The advantages of virtual twins are clear: they allow for virtual replicas of real objects or processes, revolutionizing how we use technology. They provide precise data that enables insights for efficient management and optimization—most notably, they minimize “time-to-market” through a much leaner production process, thereby helping to save costs.

The Event Industry is Fundamentally Changed by Smart Twins

Are digital twins merely efficiency monsters for research, manufacturing, and production? “Digital twins and immersive events fundamentally transform communication. They enable sustainable and globally accessible events and communication processes that simultaneously reduce costs and improve the user experience. By reducing travel and physical materials, they contribute to environmental protection and promote inclusion,” explains Nicole Deisenhofer. She is the Director of Platform Design at magnid, a subsidiary of the event agency Proske GmbH, founded in 1986. The company is headquartered in Munich and employs more than 110 people worldwide. With its technologies, Proske has established itself in recent years as one of the leading providers of digital and virtual events and experiences.

Even now, it’s becoming clear that the application areas of digital twins will extend far beyond the well-established core area of the industry sector. The technology will soon allow the creation of virtual models of event venues that can be adjusted and optimized in real-time. Above all, virtual trade shows or events, which have established themselves in the market since the COVID-19 pandemic, will become more interactive and immersive through the use of digital twins. This means that attendees of a virtual talent fair or digital workshop will not simply be present; they will be fully immersed, embodying the true essence of “immersive.” Nicole Deisenhofer explains what immersive events can look like: “An outstanding example of an immersive event is a virtual showroom where products can be explored interactively in 3D and company representatives can be chatted with in real-time. 360° live broadcasts of concerts or conferences give participants the feeling of being on-site through VR headsets.”

Digital Twins Also Transform Event Planning Processes

In the event industry, digital twins also have the potential to fundamentally change planning processes. They allow for digital exploration of event venues, optimization of layouts, and simulation of different scenarios before the actual event takes place. This not only reduces planning time but also minimizes error rates and associated costs. A message that clients from corporations or small and medium-sized enterprises are happy to hear in times of tight budgets. The creation and use of virtual models also reduce the need for physical prototypes and test runs, leading to lower resource consumption and waste production.

According to a study by McKinsey, digital twins can reduce production costs by up to 30 percent while cutting product development time by up to 50 percent. In the context of events, this means fewer physical materials and transportation are needed, significantly reducing the ecological footprint of events.

The Future Will Be Interactive and Immersive

The role of digital twins in the event industry will continue to grow in the coming years. In the future, they might even help create entirely virtual events that are as impressive and interactive as physical ones. These developments promise to sustainably transform the event industry and set new standards for efficiency, sustainability, and participant interaction.

**This article has been translated into English. The original version has been published in German in cloudmagazin.com on June 5th, 2024.