It was a privilege to attend the ANZ Digital Twin Summit in Brisbane recently with credit to Saifee Events for curating such a timely and energising program.
The event was packed with insights from across the ecosystem, and while it’s hard to single out just a few speakers (there were many highlights!), two presentations stayed with me in particular:
The Brisbane Cross River Rail digital twin continues to set the benchmark as a powerful case study in real-world value. Not just as a digital model of infrastructure, but as a fully integrated tool for everything from stakeholder coordination, driver training, pedestrian flow analysis, and broader operational planning.
Then came Shane Whitehouse from Urban Tech, who posed an urgent and relevant challenge: with the 2032 Olympics fast approaching, where is the coordinated digital planning effort? A digital twin approach could transform the planning and execution required for everything from stadiums to transport to housing, supporting genuine capacity for legacy achievements—but only if we start now.
Where might that regional coordination come from? Perhaps the answer likely lies in the extraordinary talent already active in this space - and in initiatives driven by collaborators like the Smart Cities Council, whose members and associates continue to lead the charge on digital innovation in our built environments.
A huge thanks again to all involved. Events like this help bring the vision closer - and remind us that digital twins are no longer a future aspiration, but a present-day tool we can all use wisely in infrastructure visioning, planning, and management.
Did you attend the event? What were your key takeaways?
