Soheil Sabri of UCF IST highlights role of digital twin consortium in shaping the future at R-CON

By Cassidy Mills, Staff Writer

 

Soheil Sabri, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the Urban Digital Twin Lab at the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Simulation and Training (IST), presented “Digital Twin Consortium’s Contribution to the Next Generation” at R-CON Digital Twins, June 26.

 

R-CON Digital Twins was an industry-focused event exploring the expanding role of digital twin technologies, hosted by the Reality Capture Network (RCN) and held at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida.

 

The event brought together professionals from infrastructure, energy, defense, aerospace and academia to examine how digital twins are evolving from isolated prototypes into integrated systems supporting enterprise-wide decision-making.

 

“I’m proud to be here representing both the University of Central Florida and the Digital Twin Consortium,” Sabri said. “We’re seeing how digital twins are shifting from isolated use cases into integrated systems that touch enterprise-wide decisions, from city infrastructure to national defense.”

 

Sabri’s presentation focused on the evolution of the Digital Twin Consortium (DTC), its global collaboration model and the role of academia in shaping technical standards, educational programs and workforce upskilling.

 

“The Consortium began in 2020 with five working groups and now supports over fourteen, spanning sectors from natural resources to aerospace and infrastructure,” Sabri said. “We’ve seen a significant increase in industry, government and academic participation.”

 

DTC members coordinate academic, industry and government efforts to promote consistent standards in areas such as interoperability, vocabulary and architecture related to digital twin technology as it advances in multiple industries.

 

Sabri said he serves as a DTC ambassador and co-chair of its Academic and Research Working Group. He described the consortium as part of the Object Management Group, a standards organization known for its work on modeling and interoperability.

 

“One of our key initiatives is the Capability Periodic Table, or CPT, which is a framework inspired by chemistry to help practitioners identify and align digital twin capabilities,” Sabri said. “It’s technology-agnostic and has been used for both workforce development and system planning.”

 

Sabri highlighted recent developments in artificial intelligence (AI) integration, including the release of a new AI Agent Capability Predictor Table. Sabri said this evolving framework is designed to assess maturity levels of AI systems used in digital twin contexts, ranging from static automation to multi-agent generative systems.

 

“We’re seeing a shift from traditional digital systems toward cognitive digital twins,” Sabri said. “This involves understanding how AI, data and simulation interact across sectors.”

 

Sabri emphasized cross-sector engagement through DTC’s “testbed” model, which encourages voluntary collaboration on pilot projects. More than 40 proposals have been submitted through this process, according to Sabri, many focused-on standards, semantic interoperability and responsible AI.

 

He said UCF is one of several regional organizers supporting DTC’s educational mission and described the university’s digital twin certification program as an example of workforce pipeline development.

 

“We work with industry partners who provide real-world use cases for students, and in return, they gain access to emerging talent trained in modeling, simulation and AI,” Sabri said. “It’s designed as a short-term pathway from concept to application.”

 

Sabri’s talk closed with a broader invitation to industry, academic and public-sector participants to engage in collaborative research and curriculum development around digital engineering and smart infrastructure.

 

“We’re not trying to compete; we’re trying to complement,” Sabri said. “Universities can act as innovation arms, and when aligned with industry priorities, that partnership can generate real value.”