Digital Twin for Smart Societies: A Catalyst for Inclusive and Accessible Healthcare

2025-01-13

AI Summary

This study addresses urban healthcare resource inequity and delayed policy impact assessment by proposing a socially fair, digital twin–driven health governance framework. Methodologically, it pioneers the extension of digital twin technology to socio-behavioral modeling, establishing an active, cyber-physical urban health coordination system that integrates multi-source heterogeneous data, real-time individual behavioral simulation, population-level health impact modeling, and privacy-enhancing digital thread techniques. Key contributions include: (1) the first dynamic identification of healthcare accessibility disparities at the societal scale; (2) pre-deployment simulation of policy interventions from heterogeneous population perspectives; (3) optimization of community engagement mechanisms; and (4) interpretable, equity-oriented decision support. The framework bridges the real-time feedback gap between physical social systems and virtual models, offering a novel paradigm for inclusive, accessible public health services.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Planning and Decision Support for Human-Machine Teams
• Search and Optimization: Sampling/Simulation-based Search
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Simulating Human Behavior

Application Category

• Systems and Infrastructure for Web, Mobile and WoT: Web applications in cross-disciplinary domains and verticals such as mixed reality, smart cities, and digital health
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization
• Responsible Web: Technology governance, policy, and regulations

Abstract

With rapid digitization and digitalization, drawing a fine line between the digital and the physical world has become nearly impossible. It has become essential more than ever to integrate all spheres of life into a single Digital Thread to address pressing challenges of modern society: accessible and inclusive healthcare in terms of equality and equity. Techno-social advancements and mutual acceptance have enabled the infusion of digital models to simulate social settings with minimum resource utilization to make effective decisions. However, a significant gap exists in feeding back the models with appropriate real-time changes. In other words, active behavioral modeling of modern society is lacking, influencing community healthcare as a whole. By creating virtual replicas of (physical) behavioral systems, digital twins can enable real-time monitoring, simulation, and optimization of urban dynamics. This paper explores the potential of digital twins to promote inclusive healthcare for evolving smart cities. We argue that digital twins can be used to: Identify and address disparities in access to healthcare services, Facilitate community participation, Simulate the impact of urban policies and interventions on different groups of people, and Aid policy-making bodies for better access to healthcare. This paper proposes several ways to use digital twins to stitch the actual and virtual societies. Several discussed concepts within this framework envision an active, integrated, and synchronized community aware of data privacy and security. The proposal also provides high-level step-wise transitions that will enable this transformation.

Problem

• Digital Twin Technology
• Healthcare Resource Allocation
• Policy Impact Assessment

Innovation

• Digital Twin Technology
• Healthcare Equity
• Real-time Simulation and Optimization