Japanese technology company Fujitsu and researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) are collaborating on the development of a ‘social digital twin’ that could be used to model traffic, economic activity, and climate and public health measures.

Masami Mizutani, who is leading the project at Fujitsu, told Cities Today: “‘Typical’ smart city digital twins manage the data in terms of the relationship between the real world and virtual space. Fujitsu’s Social Digital Twin is a complete digital reproduction of behaviours of a society by constructing a human model and a social model that reacts in real time to changes in society at large, reflecting shifting relationships between the behaviour of people and goods, the economy, and society in minute detail…

A project through CMU’s Mobility Data Analytics Center (MAC) will use real-world data, including input of traffic regulations and the movement of vehicles, to evaluate the effectiveness of measures designed to dynamically estimate and control traffic flow.