Growth Opportunities for Digital Twins in Global Healthcare

Growth Opportunities for Digital Twins in Global Healthcare

A digital twin (DT) is a simulated clone of a tangible item or an intangible system/process that users can study independent from its real-world counterpart to aid decision-making. DT technology initially saw application in the production and engineering fields with Industry 4.0, but it has advanced and become revolutionary in the healthcare industry. In healthcare, developers can create a DT for a human or organ, device, process, or healthcare delivery center. Healthcare executives in the United States and Europe increasingly acknowledge DTs as a viable solution for better clinical decision-making in building more efficiency, improving performance, hastening processes, predicting and pre-empting maintenance issues, supporting quality control, and cutting costs. The most critical component to the success of DTs is coordinating all of these elements via interoperability and data integration. The Internet of Things, extended reality, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and advanced analytics are key technologies that can enhance the value of DTs. Healthcare is a relatively newer application for DTs, so it is critical to understand the nuances and opportunities they offer, which this study aims to address.