Overview
ISO/IEC TR 30172:2023 - Internet of Things (IoT) - Digital twin - Use cases is a Technical Report published by ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 41. It provides a curated collection of representative digital twin use cases across multiple domains (for example, smart manufacturing, smart cities, smart buildings, smart energy, transport and construction). The report is edition 1.0 (2023‑10) and is applicable to all types of organizations - commercial enterprises, government agencies, and not‑for‑profit bodies - that are planning, developing or standardizing digital twin solutions in IoT ecosystems.
Key topics
- Use case collection: Detailed, domain‑specific use cases captured in Annex B illustrating real‑world digital twin applications.
- Application domains & life‑cycle coverage: Classification of use cases by domain and by stages of asset or system life cycles (design, construction, operation, maintenance).
- Use case template: A structured template (based on IEC 62559‑2) for describing digital twin scenarios, scope, objectives, actors, entities, KPIs and data flows.
- Properties and statistics: Metadata, basic statistics and analysis of the collected use cases (e.g., technology adoption and life‑cycle status).
- Design artifacts: Guidance for diagrams and models - use case drawings, sequence/data flow diagrams, deployment views.
- Cross‑cutting concerns: Sections addressing data security, privacy and trustworthiness, version management, digital infrastructures and key performance indicators (KPIs).
Applications
ISO/IEC TR 30172:2023 is practical for organizations that need an industry‑recognized reference of digital twin scenarios and structured use case descriptions to:
- Capture and communicate digital twin requirements and stakeholder interactions.
- Benchmark and plan digital twin deployments across IoT systems (smart cities, energy grids, manufacturing floors, transport networks).
- Guide interoperability and system architecture discussions by using a common use case template and standardized descriptors.
- Inform risk assessments, KPI selection and lifecycle strategies for asset digitalization.
- Support standards development, procurement specifications and cross‑organizational collaboration.
Who should use this standard
- IoT system architects and engineers
- City planners, utilities and infrastructure operators
- Product managers and digital transformation teams
- Standards developers and regulatory bodies
- Researchers and solution integrators evaluating digital twin implementations
Related standards
- IEC 62559‑2 (use case template) - the ISO/IEC TR 30172 template is adapted from this standard.
- Other ISO/IEC standards from JTC 1/SC 41 on IoT and digital twin topics may be relevant for interoperability, security and data models.
This Technical Report is a practical, domain‑oriented resource for anyone building, evaluating or governing IoT digital twin applications and seeking consistent, reuseable use‑case descriptions.