

Thales’ R&D leadership was looking for practical levers to accelerate development cycles, reduce testing costs, and strengthen traceability throughout the lifecycle of complex products.
One promising technological path emerged : Digital Twins, seen as a game-changing tool to:
Simulate system behavior before production
Centralize engineering data across all departments
Better connect design, testing, and maintenance phases
However, several key questions remained: Where to start? What ROI to expect? Which scope to target?
To guide this reflection, we organized a strategic session with Olivier Doutriaux, former Chief Digital Officer of R&D at Renault, a pioneer in the implementation of Digital Twins in the automotive industry.
Session Objective:
“What are the best practices (and pitfalls to avoid) when implementing a Digital Twin in an R&D environment?”
Best Practices from Renault:
Start small: begin with a critical, easily measurable subsystem
Ensure alignment between business, engineering, and IT from day one
Adopt a product mindset: think about the Digital Twin across the entire lifecycle
Leverage existing data rather than building a model from scratch
Use the Digital Twin as a collaboration platform, not just a simulation tool
Bénéfices pour Thales :
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