Bentley Systems, Incorporated the infrastructure engineering software company, announced Bentley Education’s Digital Twin Design Challenge—a student contest that provides an opportunity to reimagine a real-world location with a structure designed with the popular Minecraft video game. Digital twin technology is set to be the next powerful tool for future engineers, and this contest is a unique opportunity for students to explore it in a creative way.
Through the Digital Twin Design Challenge, students have the chance to combine their imagination and creativity by exploring infrastructure digital twins. Students will use Minecraft to take a real-world location and design a new structure within it. In addition to gaining recognition from Bentley Education, the top 20 finalists will receive $500 each. The winner chosen by expert judges will receive a prize of $5,000, and the winner from the popular vote category will win a prize of $2,000.
The challenge is open to students aged between 12 years and 25 years from secondary schools, high schools, community colleges/schools, polytechnics, technical institutes, and universities. Students can design structures that address issues like environmental sustainability, architectural aesthetics, and population growth, or solve a specific engineering challenge. These designs can be in the form of any superstructure, such as a building, bridge, monument, park, train station, or airport.
With the world and its infrastructure facing many growing challenges, future engineers will turn to digital twin technology to manage them. Because digital twins are virtual representations of the real world, they can help combine and visualise data to optimise decision-making and enable effective planning and action.
Bentley Systems chief success officer Katriona Lord-Levins said, “This challenge is continuing Bentley Education’s mission of nurturing future professionals for careers in engineering, design, and architecture. We want students to show their creativity using Minecraft and explore the potential of Bentley’s iTwin technology to tackle a challenge facing the world’s infrastructure. And, along the way, we want to inspire and encourage students to learn about infrastructure engineering as a possible career and expose them to the opportunities that lie ahead, with infrastructure going digital.”
When their design is ready, students will export the structure as a 3D model and place it within the real-world location using the Bentley iTwin platform. Students will also need to submit a short essay describing the concept behind their design. To participate in the challenge, students must register and submit their projects before 31 March 2022.