Digital Twin Consortium and OPC Foundation announce liaison agreement
March 2023
News
The Digital Twin Consortium (DTC) and OPC Foundation have announced a liaison agreement to accelerate the development and adoption of digital twin-enabling technologies. The DTC and the OPC Foundation have worked closely in several open-source reference implementation projects on GitHub and have agreed to collaborate even closer. “We are excited about working with OPC Foundation,” said Dan Isaacs, GM and CTO of DTC. “Through our collaboration, we will influence interoperability standards and processes that will advance the use of digital twins in manufacturing across many industries.”
The DTC and OPC Foundation have agreed to the following activities:
• Collaborating on standardisation requirements.
• Realising interoperability by harmonising technology components and other elements.
• Aligning work in horizontal domains for adoption in vertical domains and use cases, proof of concepts and value innovation platforms (VIP) programmes, including technology, terminology and taxonomy; security and trustworthiness; conceptual, informational, structural and behavioural models; enabling technologies such as simulation and AI, technology stack across the digital twin lifecycle; and case study development.
• Developing and understanding open-source reference implementations.
Stefan Hoppe, president of the OPC Foundation, said: “The OPC Foundation maintains the global standard for secure industrial interoperability for information modelling and data exchange, which, as part of this relationship with DTC, benefits all who wish to create semantically identical digital twins. Our involvement to liaise with DTC further strengthens the user’s ability to model each data aspect quickly and precisely, creating and interacting with any digital twin. Digital twins will be fully compatible with the OPC UA framework used in the run-time components within the operational domain.”
“As one of the key contributors to Digital Twin Consortium’s open-source programme, Microsoft saw the rising demand for open digital twin technology and industrial interoperability standards like OPC UA. The collaboration of OPC Foundation and DTC will continue to elevate the impact of digital twin technologies. The two organisations have already started collaborating on open-source projects and these projects will expand to include emerging technologies,” said Erich Barnstedt, chief architect of standards at Microsoft. Both consortia will exchange information through regular consultations, joint contributor relations, seminars, open-source projects and other activities.
Further reading:
RS South Africa shapes future engineering talent
RS South Africa
News
RS South Africa is demonstrating that nurturing future engineers goes beyond traditional classrooms or competitions. On STEM Day, the company shone a light on the full spectrum of its educational initiatives.
Read more...
ABB and Compu-Power bring high-efficiency UPS innovation to IS3 X-Change 2025
News
ABB recently participated in the 31st annual IS
3X-Change 2025 in Cape Town, alongside its long-standing channel partner Compu-Power.
Read more...
Meta and partners announce completion of 2Africa subsea cable system
News
Meta, in partnership with leading global and regional telecommunications companies, has announced the completion and activation of the core 2Africa subsea cable system. This marks a historic milestone in digital infrastructure, establishing what the world’s longest open-access subsea cable system.
Read more...
RS South Africa retains Level 2 B-BBEE status
RS South Africa
News
RS South Africa has once again achieved Level 2 B-BBEE verification.
Read more...
SEW-EURODRIVE unveils world class facility in Gqeberha
News
In a landmark event in the Eastern Cape attended by key customers and industry leaders, SEW-EURODRIVE officially opened its expanded state-of-the-art facility in Gqeberha, marking a major milestone in its strategy to strengthen regional support and deepen its footprint in the region.
Read more...
Africa’s brightest young battery innovators
Schneider Electric South Africa
News
Schneider Electric and Enactus, the international NGO dedicated to inspiring students through entrepreneurial action, have announced the winners of the 2025 Energy Transition Battery Innovation Challenge, funded by the Schneider Electric Foundation. It empowers young innovators to design battery solutions addressing the region’s most pressing energy challenges.
Read more...
Africa’s strategic role in powering the global clean energy future
News
The 2026 Africa Energy Indaba is to spotlight Africa’s mineral wealth, industrialisation potential and the urgent need for sustainable value chain development.
Read more...
Crash reconstruction tests advance vehicle safety research
News
The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Scientific Multidisciplinary Advanced Research Technologies (SMART) Lab recently participated in a series of collaborative crash reconstruction tests held at the Toyota Test Track.
Read more...
Siemens and HD Hyundai to accelerate revitalisation of USA shipbuilding
News
Siemens Digital Industries Software has signed a memorandum of understanding with HD Hyundai to drive the revitalisation and modernisation of the commercial shipbuilding industry in the USA.
Read more...
Accelerating Africa’s smart manufacturing future
News
Automation Day, a dedicated one-day conference within the Manufacturing Indaba 2026, will bring together industry leaders, innovators and policymakers for an in-depth exploration of how automation is reshaping Africa’s manufacturing landscape.
Read more...
printer friendly version