Digital Twins hold enormous potential for the buildings and infrastructure sectors, but their implementation faces key challenges. What is a Digital Twin? The industry lacks a clear consensus, leading to misinformation and confusion. While Digital Twins can scale, not every project requires every possible capability—so how do we manage this effectively? More importantly, the industry is not ready—foundational work in data standards, interoperability, and governance is still needed.

In response to these challenges and opportunities, buildingSMART Canada (bSC) is launching the Digital Twin Domain, a strategic initiative to guide the development, standardization, and adoption of Digital Twins across Canada. By aligning industry efforts, fostering collaborative research, and advocating for open standards, this initiative aims to lay the groundwork for scalable and interoperable Digital Twins.

As we move forward, collaboration is key—between owners, policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders. By building strong data foundations, embracing open technologies, and fostering knowledge-sharing, Canada can position itself as a global leader in Digital Twin innovation for the built environment.