When NASA ultimately saved the crew of the Apollo 13 from a possible flight disaster, they used a technology that remains relevant today – the digital twin. Basically, it is a bridge between the real and virtual world, allowing for further analysis and remote control, which in the case of NASA enabled them to fix the spacecraft, which was 200,000 miles away.

Now, thanks to a combination of cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT), digital twins are becoming more detailed, more predictive and, as a result, more valuable to a wide range of applications. The technology is already common in manufacturing and is now being used to simulate and optimise everything from the human heart to the Earth’s climate.