Models can be used for many different purposes in the development, production and operation of complex systems. In the engineering of Digital Twins (DTs) of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) models can play different roles. This presentation goes behind the glossy image of DTs in order to advise researchers and advanced professionals of how models can be used, and what else is necessary to establish reliable DTs. This presentation will start by reflecting upon the initial naïve understanding of how models could be used to engineer DTs. Experience is drawn from a large number of externally funded projects. The lessons learned have been incorporated in the book about engineering of digital twins. The Digital Twin as a Service platform is also introduced to demonstrate how such a platform can make it easier to incorporate models in the engineering of DTs.

Peter Gorm Larsen is professor at the department of electrical and computer engineering in the section for Software Engineering & Computer Systems at Aarhus University in Denmark. He currently leads the AU Centre for Digitalisation, Big Data, and Data Analytics (DIGIT) and the AU Centre for Digital Twins. After receiving his M.Sc. in Electronic Engineering at the Technical University of Denmark in 1988, he worked in industry before returning to complete an industrial Ph.D. in 1995. In his industry career, as a development engineer and manager, he gave industrial courses all over the world on formal methods, and saw the technology he developed be applied in areas as diverse as secure message processing over options trading to near-field communication firmware. He returned to academia in 2005. His prime research goal now is to improve the development of complex mission-critical applications by implementing and applying well-founded technologies, in particular in the design of robust tools that help engineers to leverage models in early design stages to reduce overall product development risk in particular in the area of Cyber-Physical Systems.