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                 Digital twins : use cases, architecture and engineering research Digital twins : use cases, architecture and engineering research- Pascale Vicat-Blanc – Senior Research Scientist at Inria (french National Institute for Computer Science)
 Abstract:
 Digital twins (DTs) have recently emerged as a key tool to address the needs of software-driven ecosystems. By decoupling the control system and high-level decision-making from physical operations, DTs offer adaptive, cost-effective and easy-to-evolve solutions. In particular DTs integrate deductive engineering models with inductive data-driven analytics, to fuel powerful simulations, predictions, visualizations and adaptive system management capabilities. However, DTs are complex software that combine various technologies such as IoT sensor data collection and processing, heterogeneous data organization and storage, machine learning, physics modeling and numerical simulation, 3D technologies, and augmented interfaces. Developing and operating such complex software systems can be challenging and costly for enterprises. For example, there is no consensus on a cross-industry reference architecture model to facilitate digital twin engineering. Thus, despite their promise, current DT implementations often remain fragmented, domain-specific, and expensive to develop and maintain. In this talk, we will present the use cases typology and the generic functional architecture model for DTs, applicable by any industrial company proposed by the French Industry Alliance (AIF). Then we will develop the research agenda of the new national program for a structured and reasoned approach to DT engineering (EDT), initiated by the French Sofware Research Agency (ALU). Our objective is to foster the creation of scalable, reusable, reliable and eco-friendly digital twins.
 Bio:
 Pascale Vicat-Blanc is Senior Research Scientist at Inria (french National Institute for Computer Science), where she is "Chargée de Mission pour l’Industrie du Futur". PVB received a Habilitation à Diriger les recherches (HDR) in Computer Science from ENS Lyon, a PhD and Engineering degree in Computer Science from INSA Lyon. She is currently launching with Benoit Combemale, a national program for Engineering Digital Twin (EDT) in the context the National Agency for Computer Science and Software Research (Algorithme Logiciel et Usages - ALU) coordinated by Inria. Expert in Internet protocols, Network virtualization and programming (NFV, SDN), Internet of Things (IoT), her current research interests cover Digital Infrastructure Observability and Digital Twin technology. She has been supervising 15 PhD students, co-authoring 180+ international journals and conferences articles, 2 books and 12 granted FR and US patents. She participated to the development of software (SaaS) products commercialized by the three startups she created and managed in France and the USA. PVB has been Lecturer in Computer Science in various engineering schools in Lyon. She has also been Senior Director Product Development at F5 Networks (USA) where she was head of IoT & Network Analytics product innovation. PVB is member of the Scientific Council of the French Computer Society, of the Scientific Council of the IRT SystemX and at the board of the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon. Pascale received the Innovation Prize - Academy of Sciences - INRIA – Dassault System, and the Joliot-Curie Prize - Femme-Entreprise - Ministry of Research. She is also Knight of the Legion of Honor.Thursday, October 30, 2025 @15h00 3195, Pav. André-Aisenstadt 

