Johnson Controls and Microsoft have announced a global collaboration to digitally transform how buildings and spaces are conceived, built and managed. Microsoft also announced the general availability of Microsoft Azure Digital Twins. Digital twins are playing an increasingly important role in the design and ongoing operation of healthy buildings.

"Our partnership with Microsoft is a vital ingredient in our innovation strategy, as the company shares our vision of using technology to transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play," said Mike Ellis, vice president and chief digital and customer officer at Johnson Controls. "Digital twins are playing an increasingly important role in the design, construction and ongoing operation of healthy buildings and spaces, and can be particularly valuable when analysing large datasets and predicting patterns and trends to tell our customers things they don't yet know. Our OpenBlue digital platform, closely connected with Microsoft's platform and workplace technologies, represents an unbeatable opportunity to help our customers make shared spaces safer, more agile and more sustainable."

"We have an incredible opportunity to use advances in cloud and compute capabilities to help customers reimagine the physical world," said Scott Guthrie, executive vice president, Cloud + AI, Microsoft. "By integrating the power of Azure Digital Twins with Johnson Controls OpenBlue Digital Twin platform, our collaboration will provide customers with a digital replica and actionable insights to better meet their evolving needs."

Among the numerous pilots currently under development is an ambitious effort at The National University of Singapore (NUS). As part of the university's ongoing efforts to create a smart, safe and sustainable campus for students and staff, the new alliance's complementary products and services are coming together to test the foundations of a Digital Twin-powered operations platform. The data-driven platform will enable integrated building management across the campus and serve as the foundation for energy and space optimisation, predictive maintenance, and unmanned operations.

"National University of Singapore (NUS) is excited about using Microsoft's Azure Digital Twins technology and Johnson Controls OpenBlue platform, in our digital transformation journey that changes the way we design and manage our buildings and infrastructure, while retaining smart, sustainability and safety principles at the core of the entire campus," said Professor Yong Kwet Yew, senior vice president (campus infrastructure), NUS.

Working with Microsoft, Johnson Controls will address how people can return to work to maximise space while operating facilities safely, including:

  • Energy Optimisation – optimising energy usage within facilities maintenance with a goal of reducing carbon emissions that save money and support sustainability efforts.
  • Access Control and Safety - addressing physical access and safety using live video analytics and spatial intelligence, combining Microsoft cloud services and Johnson Controls security access controls hardware end points.
  • Collaboration for Facility Managers - integrating facility management workflows with workplace collaboration platforms such as Office 365 and Microsoft Teams to increase productivity and collaboration across remote teams.
  • Workspace Optimisation - maximising the use of spaces by merging building and occupancy data with experiences to create actionable insights for facility managers and the occupants.