Beyond Control: Embracing Emergent Behavior in Symbiotic Digital Twin and CPS Ecosystems

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS), characterized by the tight integration of computation, networking, and physical processes, are becoming increasingly vital across societal domains [1]. As long-living and autonomous entities deeply embedded within complex and dynamic runtime environments, CPS are best understood not just as engineered artifacts interacting with their surroundings, but as integral components fostering a symbiotic relationship characterized by potentially unexpected interactions and co-evolution [2]. This perspective challenges traditional system design and management paradigms. As CPS grow in scale and complexity, interacting intricately with their surroundings, the limitations of more traditional approaches adopted in conventional control solutions become evident. These methods often struggle with scale, heterogeneity, environmental uncertainty, and, crucially, the inherent non-linearities that can lead to emergent behavior - complex and system-level patterns arising unpredictably from local component interactions [3].