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YVR and Unity accelerate digital transformation in aviation with YVR's Digital Twin platform.

Photo by Jaana Björk

YVR and Unity sign agreement to advance digital transformation

By Richmond Sentinel

Published 10:31 PDT, Thu March 16, 2023

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Vancouver International Airport (YVR) and Unity (NYSE: U), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to commercialize YVR's Digital Twin powered by Unity, for the global aviation industry. This strategic collaboration aims to bring YVR's Digital Twin model to the broader aviation market so other airports can advance their digital transformation.

YVR's digital twin is the first major product out of YVR's Innovation Hub which was launched in 2021 as a people-first technology to advance the airport's vision to power the future through innovation and sustainable technology solutions. It's a powerful tool that facilitates optimization, future planning, simulation, training, testing, and more by aggregating and visualizing data across disparate sources. Through the integration of sensors, historical and real-time data into the platform, the digital twin strategically presents key information in 2D and 3D, enabling data-driven decision-making and collaboration which has never been available before.

"From the beginning, YVR's digital twin has been centered around our people—employees, passengers and the community," said Lynette DuJohn, vice president of Innovation and chief innovation officer at Vancouver Airport Authority. "In bringing our digital twin to the global aviation market, we look forward to working with other airports, and industry partners, to positively transform the way they serve their passengers through the possibilities this exciting technology offers."

This big step wouldn't be possible without the support of the airport's partner Unity—the world's leading platform for creating and growing interactive, real-time 3D (RT3D) content and its professional service group, Accelerate Solutions.

"I am very excited about Unity and YVR's joint go-to-market plan for an airport Digital Twin platform," said Ryan Peterson, vice president, Accelerate Solutions, at Unity. "The last three years have seen a tremendous amount of collaboration, boldness and vision from both organizations, and I believe this digital twin platform can provide incredible value to airports around the world. Accelerating aviation's digital transformation will have a massive, positive impact on our society, with the goal of driving efficiencies in the transport of people and goods."

Since 2021, the YVR digital twin platform has addressed various operational challenges amid changing aviation and travel realities. During the 2022 peak summer travel season, YVR's Guest Experience Team used the digital twin to relieve passenger congestion at security checkpoints. To support YVR's decarbonization goals and help the aviation industry reach net zero emissions by 2030, YVR is working in collaboration with carrier partners to build a greenhouse gas calculation model that monitors, maps out and analyzes more efficient aircraft movements with the aim to reduce airside emissions.

As part of its reconciliation efforts, YVR will provide access to training opportunities to Musqueam students through a Unity certification program designed to advance future career placements within the digital twin and gaming industries. YVR and Musqueam are located in the same community on land that is Musqueam traditional territory. YVR is also exploring the possibilities in digitizing the airport's extensive Indigenous art collection, so as to share Indigenous culture, art and language with the world.

YVR has a long history of designing industry-leading travel technology to transform the passenger experience, deliver operational efficiencies and bring these solutions to airports globally, most recently with its BORDERXPRESS kiosks. In the coming months, YVR will be working closely with airports and sector partners to advance digital twin technology and make it available to partners in Canada and around the world.