With a personal donation of more than €2 million from the Grundfos Foundation to Professor Peter Gorm Larsen, Aarhus University (AU) is now launching a new research project on digital twins. The donation is the latest in a series of donations for research into digital twins, which together are helping to secure AU as a world leader in the field.

And Peter Gorm Larsen can see this clearly in the interest in research into digital twins from industry.

"We’ve been conducting research into digital twins here at AU since 2019, and we now have a total of 236 companies in our project portfolio. All these companies are actively contributing to the development of the field, collaborating with us and reaping the benefits of our research. With this grant, we can continue as leaders in the development of digital twins, build an even larger environment around the field, and really put Aarhus University on the world map in terms of digital twins," he says.

He is backed by Casper Hansen, CEO of the automation company Technicon, which develops high-end solutions particularly for the global pharmaceutical industry:

"Digital twins not only enable industrial companies quickly to simulate and test processes and flows before production initiate. This provides clear advantages expanding our ability as a company to design and develop even more innovative and advanced solutions through digital twins, that enable companies and industries to combat and solve complex challenges and improve competitiveness,“ he says and continues:

"Digital twins also make it easier and smoother for employees to work together on the solutions the company is working on. They can more effectively support and service installations across distances. And thirdly, the development and utilization of digital twins means that we as a nation step up on the learning curve. Denmark is internationally recognized for its robot technology. By strengthening efforts within digital twins, this will contribute to enhance that position."

A digital twin includes at least one digital model of something physical, such as an organism or a system, a process or an entity. A digital twin is so accurate that it acts, reacts, ages and fails in the virtual world closely resembling the physical twin in the physical world.

Via modern sensor technology, models using physical laws and artificial intelligence, the purpose of the digital twin is to simulate the physical twin such that entirely new insights are created into the physical twin. This can be extremely valuable for manufacturing companies, for example, because they can improve a product or build on it without the costly trial-and-error approach.

"These are important technologies, especially for manufacturers of digital solutions, and we at the Grundfos Foundation look forward to continuing this journey with Peter Gorm Larsen. Digital technologies are one of the cornerstones in the development of sustainable manufacturing industries," says Ebbe Kruse Vestergaard, Head of Programme, Research and Learning at the Grundfos Foundation.

The purpose of the project, which goes by the name 'Digital Twin Center for Open Research and Engineering' or simply DT-CORE, is to support the development of these digital twins, which are one of the cornerstones of so-called cyber-physical systems (collaborative computer-based networks that manage and control physical objects or systems via embedded sensor networks).

"For us as a company, it’s important that projects like this are set up to develop competencies and stimulate development and innovation within digital twins. These competencies are much needed by companies because digital twins are absolutely crucial in the global competition," says Casper Hansen.

DT-CORE officially opened in February 2025 and gives both large and small companies the opportunity to collaborate in the field with Aarhus University. The project is led by Professor Peter Gorm Larsen, Associate Professor Lukas Esterle and Assistant Professor Cláudio Gomes and will run until 2030.

Contact

Professor Peter Gorm Larsen
Aarhus University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mail: pgl@ece.au.dk
Tel.: +4541893260

Associate Professor Lukas Esterle
Aarhus University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mail: lukas.esterle@ece.au.dk
Tel.: +4522464893

Assistant Professor Cláudio Gomes
Aarhus University, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Mail: claudio.gomes@ece.au.dk
Tel.: +4593522981