The Collaborative Digital Twins (CDT) project group is a joint initiative of prostep ivip and the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), founded in 2022. Its purpose is to develop a clear definition and conceptual framework for collaboratively created, cross-company Digital Twins, and to consolidate related activities within the association. Despite the high relevance and visibility of Digital Twins in publications and the broader community, prostep ivip previously lacked a clear positioning on the topic. Moreover, several existing project groups were working on subjects related to Digital Twins or producing results applicable to their development. CDT brings together and consolidates these discussions within prostep ivip – covering methodological, technical, and legal perspectives – enabling member companies to pursue their path toward collaborative Digital Twins.
From a user perspective, practical workflows for collaborative engineering were developed. Five User Journeys cover typical scenarios ranging from requirements definition through system design and simulation to integration and testing. Collaborative requirements management was demonstrated in a proof-of-concept implementation, showing how real-time data exchange can function without file transfer while preserving IP protection and data sovereignty. This results in fewer iteration loops, greater transparency, and improved traceability. All developed results and approaches are compatible with existing initiatives such as Catena-X and ReqIF.
In 2025, the Implementors Laboratory was successfully conducted and a demonstrator implemented. It confirmed that CDT principles and the developed IT architecture are viable in near-industrial environments. The implementation encompassed the integration of various engineering tools and the harmonization of data models for synchronous, data-driven cross-company exchange. All results were validated in close coordination with relevant organizations and project groups to ensure compatibility with established standards.
In 2025, the Core Ontology and initial domain ontologies were completed and published as the foundation for semantic interoperability. The Implementors Laboratory saw the implementation of User Journeys for collaborative requirements management within the CDT demonstrator. In total, six journeys were published from the CDT project. With the formal project closure, the final CDT Recommendation was adopted and made available to industry.
Sourcing near-industrial data for the Implementors Laboratory proved difficult. As an alternative, data from a Mars rover demonstrator was used to implement the planned scenarios. The CDT demonstrator also required mapping the APIs of various engineering tools onto a unified data model to enable cross-company exchange. In addition, continuous feedback from the user perspective on intermediate and final results had to be gathered and incorporated throughout the project.
The CDT project concluded at the end of 2025. Its results form the foundation for the successor project Live Collaboration in Engineering (LCE), launching in 2026. LCE addresses synchronized, cross-company real-time collaboration along the V-model. Planned activities include the standardization of real-world use cases in the area of Software-defined Products, as well as the further development of outcomes from the CDT Implementors Laboratory.
2025 was the year of implementation: with the CDT demonstrator, using requirements engineering as an example, we showed how Digital Twins can be developed collaboratively across company boundaries – based on our User Journeys and the IT architecture we developed. The foundation for the next level – Live Collaboration in Engineering – has been laid." — Dr. Sebastian Schweigert-Recksiek, :em engineering methods AG
"With the CDT Proof of Concept, we reached a true milestone: instead of sending complete files back and forth, we can now collaborate directly on the actual data and individual values. This reduces complexity, eliminates interface losses, and avoids unnecessary data overload. To me, this is a quantum leap in collaboration – efficient, transparent, and forward-looking." — Dr. Sebastian Handschuh, Mercedes-Benz AG
"The results of the Implementors Lab demonstrated how quickly and how far we can advance cross-company digital collaboration within CDT and prostep ivip. What used to take days or weeks now happens in seconds – across different IT environments. This is not just a technological achievement; it opens up entirely new possibilities for agile, networked development. We must now turn these tangible opportunities into reality." — Peter Gerber, Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG
Dr. Sebastian Handschuh, Mercedes-Benz
Peter Gerber, Schaeffler AG
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