Industrial Use of Virtual Space

Abstract

The 21st century is an era where the main arena for value creation is shifting to virtual space. From the perspective of companies and industries, usage of the virtual space has expanded to almost all industries including automotive, robot, retail, healthcare, agriculture, as well as foundational industries such as mobility, energy, civil engineering, and construction.

Behind this phenomenon are two key developments: first, the ability to recreate objects, assets, corporate activities in virtual space as Digital Twins; and second, the ability of these Digital Twins to generate the five types of new growth factors.

This special feature was planned against such a backdrop. We hope that this special feature will serve as a map and compass for business people involved in DX and for policy staffs, as well as academic researchers to find the direction they should take for the future.