The Bentley Brief—The Digital Twin edition, September 10, 2025

Bentley Systems

Advancing Infrastructure

Published Sep 10, 2025

Infrastructure News and Insights from Bentley Systems

Welcome to this week's edition of The Bentley Brief! Today, we’re all about digital twins—real-time, realistic virtual models of assets, systems, whole cities, and even celestial bodies—and the many ways they’re changing engineering work. Start with the student-built tool that turns demolition waste into dollars, winner of this year’s iTwin4Good challenge sponsored by Bentley Systems . Learn how digital twins help engineers connect with communities and bring the public on board for major projects. Don’t miss our interview with the expert who warns that without open data, digital twins are “just pretty models.” Then zoom out to an exquisitely detailed new model of Mars from Cesium . And finally, one year ago Bentley turned 40—watch how five brothers with a passion for computers built today’s leading infrastructure engineering software company.

Digital Twin for the Rubble Economy

Driving the news A team of students from the U.K. and Ireland has won a prestigious global infrastructure contest with an innovative digital solution to address construction waste. SITESalvage won first place in the finals of the iTwin4Good Challenge, where students use digital twins to address global infrastructure challenges. Their platform, powered by Bentley’s iTwin, digitally maps salvageable materials from demolition sites and promotes reuse through a marketplace. The goal is to chip away at one of the world’s largest environmental problems. Construction and demolition account for roughly one-third of global waste, yet in some countries only a fraction is currently repurposed. Teams from Germany and Canada were competition runners-up, with projects to convert plastic waste into fuel and abandoned mining sites into renewable energy hubs.

Interesting fact SITESalvage embodies the British saying, “Where there’s muck, there’s brass,” transforming demolition sites from sources of waste into resource banks of tradeable, salvage materials.

Driving the news At the iTwin4Good finals, students showed how technology can cut waste, protect the planet, and spark social change. Producing ingenious digital tools with a broad social impact is just one of the aims of the competition, which is a partnership between Bentley and Enactus , an international nonprofit that fosters social enterprise. The challenge also aims to serve as a training ground for future engineers, at a time when the infrastructure sector is facing a global workforce shortage. Chris Bradshaw , chief sustainability and education officer at Bentley, calls iTwin4Good “a strategic investment in the future of infrastructure.”

Interesting fact Take Jona Schubert , one of last year’s iTwin4Good finalists who joined Bentley this year as a summer intern. Schubert won the U.K. national round with a digital twin app called FlowPort, which allocates airport assets, such as fuel trucks and transport vehicles, in the most efficient way.  

Driving the news Many cities are building digital twins to simulate and manage real-world infrastructure. But without open data, “digital twins are just pretty models.” So says Jack Kavanagh , open data lead at Smart Dublin , a joint initiative of the Irish capital’s four local authorities. Kavanagh says open data—any data generated by a public body that’s made freely available for anyone to use— is essential for transparency and turning digital twins into engines of innovation. “Open data is what keeps [a digital twin] alive—accurate, up-to-date, and actually useful for decision-making. It’s the backbone of any serious digital twin effort.” We recently caught up with Kavanagh in Dublin during the first Urban Tech Challenge, a hackathon organized by Bentley.

Interesting fact At Smart Dublin, Kavanagh manages a portal that consolidates public datasets ranging from traffic and air quality to planning and infrastructure. The goal is to make the data transparent, more accessible, and more useful to help reduce bureaucracy and fuel innovation.

Driving the news From Romania’s backroads to a French city’s digital twin, the future of infrastructure is being tested in very different ways. Agentic AI hints at transformative possibilities, while the ground beneath us remains both our greatest asset and our deepest risk. Five Bentley leaders share fresh insights on how smarter design and technology can confront these and other global challenges.

Interesting fact “Good infrastructure saves time, great infrastructure saves lives, and brilliant infrastructure … builds freedom,” writes Bentley marketing manager Oana Crișan .

Driving the news Digital twins can help engineers engage local communities and win them over on major projects. Realistic and user-friendly models of projects can get residents to understand what’s planned before a single construction truck arrives. Missouri-based infrastructure giant HNTB renders photorealistic landscapes around its highway and bridge designs using Cesium, the foundational open platform for creating powerful 3D geospatial applications that is part of Bentley. HNTB publishes these simulations online, garnering mountains of public feedback that help design teams spot and address any issues of concern.

Interesting fact Using Cesium is also saving HNTB months at the drawing board. The company’s design engineers used to spend more than 1,000 hours modeling major road projects. Now, HNTB’s Dave Willard says Cesium has brought that down to 200 to 300 hours. 

Driving the news Get ready to explore Cesium Mars, a comprehensive 3D environment that brings the same digital twin capabilities transforming Earth's infrastructure to our planetary next-door neighbor. Recently launched by Cesium, the 3D geospatial technology company acquired by Bentley in 2024, Cesium Mars provides developers, researchers, and mission planners with precise Martian terrain captured by NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration 's Mars Global Surveyor and the European Space Agency - ESA 's Mars Express.

Interesting fact The tech’s potential was demonstrated this spring at Dublin’s Urban Tech Challenge, organized by Bentley in partnership with Google and local institutions. Teams used Cesium's geospatial technology—the same platform visualizing Mars—to reimagine urban planning, flood resilience, and emergency services.

Video of the week

One year ago, Bentley Systems turned 40. Watch the story of how five brothers from Philadelphia created a software company that helped change how we live.

Tom Kurke Thomas D. Krom Rory Linehan Dorothea Manou Richard J. Vestner #Mars #DigitalTwin #AgenticAI #infrastructure