The Digital Twin Design Challenge is intended to encourage students to use their imagination and creativity to explore infrastructure digital twins. They will use Minecraft to take a real-world location and design a new structure within it. The top 20 finalists will receive US$500 (£380) each. The winner chosen by the judges will receive a prize of US$5,000, and the winner from the popular vote category will win a prize of US$2,000.
The challenge is open to students aged between 12 years and 25 years from secondary schools, high schools, community colleges/schools, polytechnics, technical institutes, and universities.
Students can design structures that address issues such as environmental sustainability, architectural aesthetics, and population growth, or solve a specific engineering challenge. These designs can be in the form of any superstructure, such as a building, bridge, monument, park, train station, or airport.
Bentley said that, with the world and its infrastructure facing many growing challenges, future engineers will turn to digital twin technology to manage them. Because digital twins are virtual representations of the real world, they can help combine and visualise data to optimise decision-making and enable effective planning and action.
Bentley Systems chief success officer Katriona Lord-Levins said: “This challenge is continuing Bentley Education’s mission of nurturing future professionals for careers in engineering, design, and architecture. We want students to show their creativity using Minecraft and explore the potential of Bentley’s iTwin technology to tackle a challenge facing the world’s infrastructure. And, along the way, we want to inspire and encourage students to learn about infrastructure engineering as a possible career and expose them to the opportunities that lie ahead, with infrastructure going digital.”
When their design is ready, students will export the structure as a 3D model and place it within the real-world location using the Bentley iTwin platform. Students will also need to submit a short essay describing the concept behind their design. To participate in the challenge, students must register and submit their projects before 31st March.
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