By 2024, engineering simulation has evolved into a cornerstone of industrial innovation, underpinning efforts to address complex global challenges. Advances in computational hardware and software have propelled simulation from the days when week-long calculations on early personal computers were the norm to the present, where consumer-grade laptops can execute comparable tasks in milliseconds. This acceleration has expanded simulation’s role in product design and development across industries.
Yet, despite these leaps in speed and accuracy, the technology faces a scalability bottleneck. The limiting factor is no longer computational capacity but the availability of skilled professionals capable of operating sophisticated simulation tools. As Jean-Claude Ercolanelli, Senior Vice President of Simulation and Tests Solutions for Siemens Digital Industries Software, emphasizes, “Broadening the applications of simulation – offering anyone access to simulation technology and enabling simulation to be utilized in all phases of a product’s lifetime – is critical to surpassing today’s growth limitations.”
The next wave of innovation will require reducing complexity and democratizing access. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and large language models present promising avenues for automation, potentially enabling non-experts to harness simulation effectively. Such democratization could open entirely new markets. Marketandmarkets.com forecasts the Digital Twin market to exceed $100 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR above 60%, with the industrial metaverse expected to match that scale and trajectory.
Future design environments are envisioned to be as engaging and interactive as video games, while maintaining industrial-grade precision. Cloud computing and improved user interfaces are lowering barriers, making it feasible to rethink how simulation is deployed. Digital twins, continuously synchronized with their physical counterparts, aim to integrate real-world data into virtual models, enhancing products and services in real time. Within the industrial metaverse, human-AI collaboration could accelerate industrial innovation, blending predictive analytics with creative design.
Ercolanelli outlines six major trends shaping the future of simulation:
1. **Shifting Left** – Simulation will increasingly occur at the earliest stages of product design, guiding decisions before physical prototypes exist. Enhanced computational speeds will allow even non-expert users, such as designers and sales teams, to perform preliminary assessments, improving return on investment.
2. **Shifting Right** – Simulation will extend into manufacturing and operational phases, driven by the Industrial Internet of Things. Complex production processes and customized products will be modeled for efficiency, with autonomous simulations and digital twins using virtual sensors to augment limited physical data.
3. **Shifting Down** – Radical democratization will bring simulation to small and medium enterprises, hobbyists, and the general public. Simplified interfaces will expand the user base, fostering innovation beyond traditional engineering circles.
4. **Shifting Up** – Within the Industrial Metaverse and generative AI ecosystems, simulation will become autonomous and omnipresent. Cloud-based microservices will enable self-evolving simulations, reducing human intervention while increasing adaptability.
5. **Going Deeper** – Higher resolution modeling will span scales from planetary systems to sub-molecular structures. This capability will advance material science and precision engineering, unlocking new efficiencies and design possibilities.
6. **Becoming More Complete** – As systems grow more complex, model-based systems engineering and SysML standards will gain traction. Reduced order models derived from detailed 3D simulations will support rapid prototyping and agile collaboration across disciplines.
In this envisioned future, simulation will be embedded throughout the lifecycle of products and processes, delivering predictions in timeframes ranging from real-time to overnight, and at accuracies from “good enough” to certifiable. AI, ML, and LLM technologies will integrate seamlessly via digital twins and the industrial metaverse, making simulation an unconscious yet constant presence in design and operation.
Since its origins in the 1950s as a tool for researchers and scientists, simulation has steadily broadened its reach. With global engineering teams driving innovation, platforms like Siemens’ Simcenter aim to provide insight into real-world performance, accelerating development and enabling industries to positively impact how people live, travel, connect, and receive care.