Washington, D.C. – On April 6, the XR Association participated in the XR Academy: Digital Twins for Government webinar hosted by the Congressional Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality Technologies Caucus (“Reality Caucus”). This session brought together experts from XRA, Unity, Booz Allen Hamilton, and the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to educate Congressional staff about digital twins. A range of Hill staff from both the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate attended the session.
During the webinar, Congressional staff heard a broad overview of digital twins and their applications across manufacturing, healthcare, urban planning, and defense from a senior staffer in Rep. Suzan DelBene’s Office (co-Chair of the Reality Caucus) and XRA CEO Elizabeth Hyman. Callan Carpenter, VP of Digital Twin Solutions at Unity, provided an overview of Unity’s digital twin maturity model which included what digital twins are, how they work, and what other technologies support advancements in digital twins. Then Munjeet Singh, SVP at Booz Allen Hamilton, and John Cunningham, Head of Government & Aerospace ay Unity, held a fireside chat exploring the use of digital twins at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida.
In particular, they discussed how digital twins were used to make the base more resilient to climate change. The webinar concluded with a panel featuring Brian Bothwell, Director at the GAO, that was facilitated by Joan O’Hara, SVP of Public Policy at XRA. During the panel speakers debated how policymakers can support the responsible use of digital twins and the critical role research and development in foundational technologies will play in ensuring digital twins can reach their full potential.
