NDTp November 2021 Editorial – Continuity through change

Continuity through change

I have recently passed the mark of having led the Digital Twin Hub for 2 years from its point of inception to passing its 3000-member point. It has been a hugely exciting and rewarding endeavour one of which I have been hugely passionate about and had the privilege to learn from a huge amount from. Digital Twins are crucial to a sustainable and prosperous future and the Digital Twin hub has provided a forum for a community to centralise to support this aim. What is clear is the huge value in the community and the real enthusiasm there is to see this area develop further. Just as when we started, we still maintain the mantra of progressing through sharing and succeeding together. Today, however marks a change in the guard as I look to step back from leading the digital twin hub as my own family looks to grow.

To ensure continuity, I am passing the baton as DT Hub Chair to Tom Hughes, who will be taking over from me in mid-November. Tom has been invaluable as our DT Hub Delivery Lead and an integral part of getting us to where we are. As a subject matter expert in this space, he has been able to accurately understand and represent the perspectives of the community. He’s also very technically focused which has been crucial in terms of progressing the Hub as a technical platform. He’s very well placed to provide a good perspective on how we progress in this next stage of the DT Hub. I asked him what his priorities were coming in to this new role:

“I am proud of the achievements that we have made over the last two years; connecting people, enabling the sharing of knowledge and continual improvement of the DT Hub platform itself. These continue as my core priorities, and I hope to enable the DT Hub community to flourish.”

Community engagement

A very welcome new addition to the team is Claire Dowdall, our Community Manager who has a wealth of experience running online communities. She is already busy embedding herself in the community and is here to support members, encourage collaboration and provide an excellent experience for everyone. Do contact her with any questions or suggestions or just to introduce yourself as she would love to hear from you.

Digital twin roadblocks

We hosted the first of our workshops drilling down in to some of the main challenges in digital twin adoption. Participants generated 105 roadblocks in total, demonstrating the real need there is for collaboration on solving these issues. These were further narrowed down in to 5 main roadblocks:

• Data issues
• Governance and guidance
• Vision and value
• Need and want
• Readiness

There was plenty of discussion both in the workshop and on the DT Hub discussion thread afterwards and it’s not too late to chime in with your own experience and add anything you feel is missing. The next workshops will focus on prioritising these challenges and looking at how as a community we can solve them.

Smart Infrastructure Index

For the second year running we’ve  just launched this extremely useful tool for DT Hub members to measure their digital maturity and benchmark progress against peers. It takes just 15 minutes to complete and you will receive an instant personalised report including a score and targeted recommendations. If you haven’t already, now is the chance to Start your Smart Infrastructure Index assessment here. 

A goodbye from me

It is on this note that I wish to express my sincere thanks to both the team at the National Digital Twin Programme and the community in enabling and allowing me to support this initiative. It’s been my absolute privilege to be involved in a project that has such potential to deliver huge value. When I think of where we were when we started to where we are today it is quite amazing. I have particularly enjoyed taking part in all of the conferences, talks and events we have been able to deliver over the last two years and seeing it surpass its 3000th member was something I didn't imagine to see so soon.

It has been fantastic to be part of progressing something I have genuinely believed in and working alongside some incredible people. It’s a great team and special thanks go to @Alexandra Robasto who has really been the lynch pin that has held the hub together.