Back to overview

Digital Twin Academy

Digital twins are revolutionizing the manufacturing industry. The digitalization of twins enables make it possible to produce more efficiently and to offer better maintenance and service (also preventively). The technology is there, and the study of its application in the field is in full swing. Meanwhile, we see that digital twinning is applied in other areas, e.g. health monitoring or in agriculture as well.

Fontys University of Applied Sciences is research partner in the international partnership Digital Twin Academy. The project is funded under Interreg Euregio Meuse-Rhine, consists of regional 10 partners with JOBS@SKILLS in the lead, and also has 15 associate pratners. The aim of this joint project is to make the knowledge and applications of digital twins available to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

Fontys’ applied research contribution:

As a University of Applied Sciences, Fontys focuses on the practical application of digital twins. What are the activities and tools to develop twins efficiently? And what are appropriate systems to develop twins for? Two research groups of Fontys School of ICT are working on this project together with two research groups of Fontys institutes of Engineering and Transport & Logistics. Test cases are:

  • Smart Industry Twin – a twin to digitize an existing assembly system, representative for SMEs, to show companies the possibilities of twinning in the smart industry.
  • Digital City Twin – a digital twin to deal with air quality and sustainability in urban environments.
  • Robot4Care – a digital twin to showcase digital innovations in healthcare. Context is a simulated environment of a heart lounge in a real hospital with a robot to inform relatives of the patients about after care.
  • Virtual Plant Twin – digital twins in horticulture to monitor plant growth and predict harvest times.
    Fontys has developed learning material to engage newbies in starting with twinning. The case that illustrates the online learning is ‘Strawberry fields forever’.

The project will end by end of 2023. The case study implementation and educational development is carried out in parallel.

Interested to collaborate?

Fontys sets out on developing and implementing a European strategy with digitalization as its central theme, driver of many developments and enabler for various social themes such as smart mobility, healthcare and circular economy. Looking for collaboration in applied research on digital twins?

Contact Teade Punter – teade.punter@fontys.nl

 

 

digitaltwinsacademy1
Back to overview