Etienne Steyn, Accenture Africa

Next month, family, fans and the sporting world’s best will descend on Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Held over 18 days, the Paris Games will include a total of 329 medal events across 35 Olympic venues and will be the biggest event organised to date in France. Given the scale of this multi-sport competition, the organising committee has enlisted the help of digital twin technology to streamline the planning process. This is particularly effective for temporary stadiums, which won’t exist until just before the event. Being able to create a virtual replica of these spaces is important for ensuring that everything is in place, from crowd management to security.

Describing digital twins as “crystal balls” that allow businesses to model simulations of “what if scenarios” quickly and economically, Devin Yaung, NTT’s senior VP for group enterprise IoT products and services, explains that this technology empowers businesses to make better decisions. In high-stakes situations, like those experienced by teams competing in the Indy Car Series, digital twins can be the difference between winning and losing.