Leveraging Digital Twins to Support Industrial Symbiosis Networks: A Case Study in the Norwegian Wood Supply Chain Collaboration

Abstract

Despite the powerful potentials of digital twins as regards achieving sustainable operations and supply chain management, there is currently very little research on using digital twins for industrial symbiosis, and even less research investigating user needs. Therefore, it is necessary to conduct sufficient research on the market and user needs before setting the framework of digital twins for industrial symbiosis. We interviewed six companies in the Norwegian wood industry that could potentially share one symbiosis network. Based on the interviews, we analyzed the needs of potential digital twins for industrial symbiosis, aiming to understand the user’s point of view on digital twins for industrial symbiosis. The research is expected to provide intellectual support for future digital twins’ design from the user perspective. This paper not only promotes the design of digital twins for industrial symbiosis from the user perspective, but also provides an analytical framework for the user perspective analysis before the development of digital twins-based supply chain collaboration in the industrial symbiosis network.