The real barrier is not the availability of technology—it already exists—but the lack of integration. buildingSMART’s Digital Twin Working Group has consistently highlighted how proprietary formats and fragmented practices create silos that block value creation. Open standards such as Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), Information Delivery Specifications (IDS), and the buildingSMART Data Dictionary (bSDD) provide the foundation for interoperability. With these in place, digital twins evolve from asset-level models into ecosystems capable of addressing system-wide challenges like decarbonization, resilience, and circularity.
Equally important is a systems perspective: infrastructure cannot be seen as isolated projects but as interconnected networks of transport, health, energy, and environment. This shift from project-based delivery to systems-based governance is where openBIM demonstrates its transformative potential.
For India, the need is urgent. More than 38% of central sector projects face cost and time overruns exceeding ₹4.6 trillion, even as 600 million citizens are projected to live in cities by 2036. Embedding openBIM into initiatives like Smart Cities and Gati Shakti will ensure that our infrastructure is not only built, but digitally enabled for transparency, efficiency, and citizen value.
Sunil Joshi
Founder & CEO – DGTRA Consultancy
Board Member – CDCPIndia | Vice-Chair buildingSMART India
