Industrial Metaverse: How AI, open ecosystems and cloud computing spur development
Digital transformation is reshaping how industries design, operate, and maintain physical systems. The next evolution of digital transformation and the Digital Twin, the Industrial Metaverse, will unify artificial intelligence (AI) and the next generation of connected engineering and operations workflows into an open single-pane-of-glass experience.
In a recent episode of the Industry Forward Podcast, Siemens experts Dale Tutt and Stuart McCutcheon discussed the enabling technologies that will make the Industrial Metaverse viable at scale, including open ecosystems, cloud computing, executable Digital Twins, and rapidly evolving applications of AI.
You can listen to the discussion through the player below, or keep on reading for a summary of the episode!
Why Industrial Metaverse is an Evolution not a Revolution
Openness was a key theme of the discussion, with an emphasis on the Industrial Metaverse as an evolution of current capabilities rather than a replacement of existing engineering systems. Stuart notes that the Industrial Metaverse will act as an orchestrating layer, bringing together data, models, engineering tools and AI into an open environment.
Rather than forcing every engineering tool, simulation model, or data source into a uniform platform, Siemens envisions an open ecosystem in which each system continues to operate in the environment where it performs best. Dale Tutt underscores this idea, emphasizing that openness allows companies to “aggregate all of this information quickly and be able to deploy something at scale fairly quickly.”
This openness becomes critical when considering the pace and complexity of modern engineering. Many organizations cannot afford slow or rigid data flows or the cost and risk of replicating information across systems. Stuart notes that constantly duplicating data creates unnecessary storage costs and introduces the overhead of “management of change,” since every replicated dataset must be updated whenever the authoritative source changes. Instead of relying on replication, the Industrial Metaverse uses orchestration—enabling secure access to the most current information without duplication.
Executable Digital Twins and the Shift-Left Engineering Approach
The conversation then shifts to the role of executable Digital Twins, an evolution of traditional Digital Twin technology that supports a shift-left approach by bringing advanced simulation earlier into engineering processes. Executable Digital Twins (xDT) package sophisticated simulation behavior into containerized models that can run in real time and connect to sensor data from physical assets. Stuart gives the example of turning a detailed NASTRAN simulation of a robot arm into a lightweight, portable behavioral model that can run on an edge device, on a desktop, or in the cloud to provide real-time stress or vibration insights without requiring a full simulation environment. This approach expands simulation beyond experts, making it accessible across disciplines and enabling more informed decisions earlier in the lifecycle.
Cloud computing plays an essential role in supporting this level of accessibility and scale. Dale observes that organizations historically relied on fixed, on‑premises compute clusters, limiting the speed at which simulations and analyses could run. Cloud resources eliminate these constraints by allowing teams to scale compute power dynamically and cost‑effectively. Instead of waiting weeks to run a full set of use cases, companies can now accelerate iteration and decision‑making simply by provisioning more cloud capacity when needed. This flexibility becomes foundational for the Industrial Metaverse, which demands real‑time rendering, large‑scale model management, and high‑performance simulation.
AI as an Embedded Accelerator for Industrial Workflows
The discussion inevitably turned to AI. Stuart and Dale discussed how Siemens’ approach around integrating AI focuses on industrial-grade AI systems that enhance reliability, improve workflows, and strengthen simulation and optimization processes. Stuart highlights emerging capabilities such as task‑oriented user interfaces that replace complex menus with natural language or voice-driven interactions, allowing users to simply state what they need. Another example involves automating photorealistic rendering tasks—such as generating textures, materials, and lighting—to streamline global scene creation.
AI also enhances executable Digital Twins. Some xDT models are becoming self‑calibrating, adjusting internal computations automatically based on sensor inputs. This reduces manual tuning and helps ensure real‑time simulations remain accurate as conditions change.
Dale notes that while AI is often marketed as an add‑on, its real value comes when it is embedded into established engineering processes. By integrating AI directly into workflows rather than treating it as a separate tool, companies can accelerate adoption without forcing users to relearn their systems or abandon proven practices. This evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, approach helps organizations realize value faster and at lower risk.
Across the episode, Dale and Stuart emphasize that the Industrial Metaverse will be the culmination of years of progress in Digital Twin technologies, cloud infrastructures, and AI-driven acceleration. By combining openness, orchestration, scalable compute, and embedded intelligence, companies gain the tools to innovate faster, collaborate more effectively, and shift-left critical engineering decisions earlier in the lifecycle.
Siemens Digital Industries Software helps organizations of all sizes digitally transform using software, hardware and services from the Siemens Xcelerator business platform. Siemens’ software and the comprehensive digital twin enable companies to optimize their design, engineering and manufacturing processes to turn today’s ideas into the sustainable products of the future. From chips to entire systems, from product to process, across all industries. Siemens Digital Industries Software – Accelerating transformation.
