Bentley and Microsoft Deepen Partnership for Digital Twins Innovation

Bentley Systems and Microsoft are expanding a partnership that focuses on bringing smart city planning and digital twins to fruition on a broader scale. Microsoft’s Azure IoT Digital Twins and Azure Maps with Bentley Systems’ iTwins platform allow planners, engineers, and other stakeholders to work with a comprehensive city-scale digital twin.

This will save costs and improve efficiency. Planners will work collaboratively through a shared platform, and the partnership should improve overall infrastructure across the board.

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City Planning with Digital Twins

The system is already in use in several cities, helping them overcome disruptions from pandemics, reduce costs, and improve efficiency — all with a system that creates a digital twin. The city or organization is recreated in a virtual world down to the last detail, allowing citizens to explore proposed changes and offer comments.

Dublin, Ireland

Dublin, Ireland, is a great example of the reality of the partnership. Dublin works with Bentley to develop this capability to reduce the overall cost and disruption of making clear development plans. The program ensures citizens can view potential changes and make comments from home.

The pandemic has changed how cities handle these developments, but the extended partnership has facilitated a solution. As cities grapple with digital transformation, Microsoft and Bentley Systems are reimagining the concept of virtual environments.

The solution is adaptable and scalable, providing a planning method that will set the standard for the future. The project will also transform the way citizens perform industrial construction. In fact, the city is also using Bentley’s award-winning (Microsoft’s 2020 MSUS Partner Award) 4D construction-modeling software.

FC Barcelona Stadium

Another project facilitated by the partnership is the renovation of Espai Barça while the team continues to host matches. The team created a digital twin of the stadium using the same 4D construction modeling software.

The software helps the team managing the scheduling required to work around the matches. As the stadium transforms, the team is able to continue to play with minimal disruption to fans and the team.

The Expanded Partnership

The partnership will expand the program. ProjectWise 365 is an add-on designed to increase speed and agility during design collaborations. It will be available on Microsoft’s commercial marketplace.

Users will have expanded provisions to store and process operational data. It will leverage Azure Digital Twins, IoT Hub, and Time Series Insights. Bentley systems are an infrastructure engineering company, and Microsoft enables digital transformation with intelligent cloud and intelligent edge.