Digital Twins in the Public Sector and the role of the Service Designer

Digital Twins are increasingly being discussed in the literature of industrial, smart cities, and smart healthcare fields, but what if this technology was also applied to the Public Sector? This research aims to identify possible uses of the Digital Twin approach in public services and understand what role the Service Designer can play in the process of integrating this solution. The Digital Twin is already actively used in the industrial context, healthcare, or smart cities thanks to its capabilities for real-time prediction, optimization, monitoring, controlling, and improved decision-making. At the same time, digital transformation has become one of the needs in the Public Sector, and even if many countries are taking significant steps to implement it, many opportunities still remain unrealized. The Digital Twin solution can be considered one of the technologies that improve public services, but so far research on this topic is limited. From a few studies on this topic, one can highlight the Digital Twin Bureaucracy, which is a digital replica of the bureaucracy in the physical world. Simultaneously, there is currently no Service Design literature on this topic, although it can be useful in integrating such technologies due to the design's ability to deal with complexity and the Human-centered approach. To explore technology applications and design capacity in this topic, this study uses a Literature review and Case studies analysis based on articles and cases that touch on concepts of Digital transformation, Human-centered design, Public services and Public administration. The study presents a list of possible applications of the Digital Twin in the Public Sector and the role of the designer in this process. Possible uses of this technology in the public services identified in the research are accelerated prototyping and redesigning systems, optimization of organizational resources, forecasting problems, systems planning and Public Engagement. The Service Designer's role in Digital Twin integration may be characterized as an expert who thinks through the experience of stakeholders based on their needs and improves the interactions between them and technologies. Future study will address the following questions: What other uses can a Digital Twin have in the Public Sector? How can Service Design adapt this approach to meet stakeholder needs in public services? How can design make information from this technology accessible and personalized to stakeholders in this context? To answer these questions, the PhD research aims to identify trends and cases of using Digital Twin in the Public Sector, understand the dynamics of one Italian public service that can be improved by applying this technology, develop a prototype of its interfaces and create guidelines for Service Designers.