The building stock is a city’s most significant socio-cultural and economic resource and its largest capital asset. Buildings are also where we spend most of our lives and most of our money, and where enormous potential for energy and waste reduction lies.
To help improve the quality, sustainability and resilience of building stocks, and to help reduce emissions from them, comprehensive information on their composition, operation and dynamic behaviour are required. However in many countries relevant data are extremely difficult to obtain, often highly fragmented, restricted, missing or only available in aggregated form.
Colouring Cities sets out to address this issue. The initiative develops open code to facilitate the construction and management of low cost public databases, which double as knowledge exchange platforms, providing open data on buildings, at building level. These are provided to answer questions such as: How many buildings do we have? Which building types, uses, construction systems, ages, styles and sizes are located where? How repairable, adaptable and extendable are they? How long can they last if properly maintained? How energy efficient are they? Can they easily be retrofitted? Who built them and what is their ownership type, and how well do local communities think they work?
Colouring Cities also looks to advance a more efficient, whole-of-society approach to knowledge sharing on buildings and cities, allowing for permanent databases to be collaboratively maintained and enriched, year-on-year, by citizens, academia, government, industry and the voluntary sector. Colouring London https://colouringlondon.org/, our live prototype, has been built and tested over the past five years using a step-by-step collaborative approach which has involved consultation with academia, government, industry, the voluntary sector and the community (working across science, the humanities and the arts). It looks to test four approaches to data provision-collation of existing open uploads, computational generation, local crowdsourcing and live streaming.
In 2020 the Colouring Cities Research Programme was set up at The Alan Turing Institute to support international research institutions wishing to reproduce and co-work on Colouring Cities code at city or country level. We are currently collaborating with academic partners in Lebanon, Bahrain, Australia, Germany and Greece and Switzerland.
Watch the Hub Insight to learn more about the project and the opportunity to get involved.
If you'd like to get involved please do test our site and add any recommendations for features you would like in our discussion thread https://discuss.colouring.london/. Or, if you are a public body or DTHub industry member wishing to increase open access to your infrastructure datasets, and/or to digital twin visualisations, relating to the building stock, please contact Polly Hudson at Turing.
Find out more:
Who are we
Game engine technology is at the heart of heralding a new age of content creation, immersive storytelling, design driven development, and business process innovation. These tools are now being utilised to work along side your data to create a visual front end digital twin, to allow for a more immersive, controllable and completely customisable digital twin application.
Unreal Engine is a game engine created by Epic Games to allow developers to create their own games and immersive 3D worlds. This technology has seen fast adoption across a number of industries including Manufacturing, Automotive, Film and Media, Architecture, Engineering and Construction [AEC]. As the need to collaborate virtually with stakeholders and end-users has increased, and the need to customise unique applications and visualise our 3D models and data becomes more important, it is where the role of game engines in AEC is making a mark. Unreal Engine is a free, open source tool for creators to develop their custom real-time experiences.
Unreal Engine and Digital twins
Data alone can often be confusing and hard to understand, its not until the data is contextualised that you are able to better understand the data and turn it into information that can benefit the project. This is where the Unreal Engine is here to support the Digital Twin communities, with its unique ability to aggregate data sources, from 3D geometry, BIM metadata, 4D construction data and IoT Hubs. Users are able to have a centralised location to contextualise the data in its native environment and allow users to build custom applications around it.
Getting involved in our future roadmap...
As we see more and more companies developing large scale digital twin applications, here at Epic Games we want to make sure we are providing everything you need to make your own digital twin applications with Unreal Engine. To allow you to integrate your existing data, geometry and IoT hub information into a visual platform for sharing with the world.
We'd love to hear from you about how you see the world of digital twins evolving. Going forward, which tools and features will you find most valuable in creating digital twins? What kinds of training and support would you like to have access to from Epic Games on this?
To help them serve you better, please take their survey about the current state of digital twins, and share your ideas or what you would like to see happen.
Take the survey here
Results of this survey will be shared to the community for wider awareness. In the mean time you can check out a recent article we shared with one of our customers in China:
Good day to you!
I am a member of the BSi e-committee, tasked with producing the attached draft of BS 99001:2021 Quality management systems.
It has been produced with the intention of being utilised alongside BS EN ISO 9001:20159001 in the UK construction sector, as it has specific requirements for the built environment sector.
It is out for public consultation until the 24th July 2021. Thereafter BSI shall hold comment resolution meeting(s) to address and resolve comments received.
The aim of this new quality management standard is to ensure that in the wake of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, BS EN ISO 9001:20159001 remains relevant to UK construction industry.
Because the NDTp is such an important element of the ever changing landscape of the UK construction industry, the BSi e-committee would very much appreciate feed back from those who are heavily involved in digitalization of the built environment in general, and those who are committed to the NDTp in particular, on the draft version of BS 99001:2021. Specifically feedback on this question would be very gratefully received:-
Will this new, built environment centric quality management system, actually help the NDTp achieve its vision, by not only supporting that vision, but actually being a key enabler of that vision?
Please do make comments using the online SDP system. Please note comments need to be saved and submitted individually.
Obviously if you have any questions, please do contact me.
Sincere and grateful thanks in advance everyone,
Best
Elvin
BSI 99001.pdf Read more...
Matthew West, Technical Lead, National Digital Twin Programme, introduces a video on the 7 circles of Information Management and Process Model Information Requirements.
Join Matthew and Al Cook, a member of the technical team of the NDTp and an expert in data integration activities and information security, as they take you through key elements of the Information Management Framework and detail a new approach to effective information management.
A video is available to view below, with a live Q&A session from 10:00 to 10:30 on Thursday 15 July 2021.
Access to quality and well-managed information in organisations is key to support decision making and optimise outcomes at all levels. Decisions based on poor quality information, or no information at all, can significantly increase the risk of mistakes or even disasters.
Systematically implementing information management ensures the ability to deliver the right information to the right decision-makers, at the right time. It is a critical success factor for the National Digital Twin (NDT), an ecosystem of connected Digital Twins where high-quality data is shared securely, on a massive scale to improve decision making across the UK.
The “7 circles of Information Management”: developing the Information Management Framework
The Information Management Framework (IMF), a collection of open, technical and non-technical standards, guidance and common resources, is intended to enable better information management and information sharing at a national scale and provide the building blocks to be (re)used by those wishing to be part of the NDT.
The scope of the IMF is broad and the “7 circles diagram” that I introduce in the video below is a pragmatic way to divide the Information Management space into areas of concern that can be addressed separately as well as supporting each other. It is intended to help identify areas and associated NDTp deliverables that are of particular relevance to you.
The technical aspects of the IMF may come first to your mind. On top of “information transport” mechanisms, together with authorisation and security protocols, to ensure that information can be accessed seamlessly, the NDT needs a language, an inter-lingua, so that data can be shared consistently and used to support decisions without requiring any further “data wrangling”. To develop this common language (the NDT’s ontology) the team is pursuing a principled approach, deeply grounded in mathematics and science to ensure that it is as extensible and all-encompassing as possible. This is what the deepest circles of the 7 circles diagram are about.
There is, however, much more to the Information Management Framework than the purely technical aspects, and as part of the highest circles of the 7 circles diagram, we are developing guidance on how to systematically improve information management so that producing data that meets the quality standards required to be part of the NDT becomes part of “business as usual”.
A first step towards better information management: defining your information requirements
This means that while the NDT’s ontology is being developed, steps can be taken to work towards better information management. Organisations need to reach a point of recognition that there is a need to address data quality in a way that enables improved decisions within their own business and with those they have data-based relationships with. And defining Information Requirements (the second circle in the stack) is a key starting point.
Process Model based Information Requirements
Too often, information requirements are incomplete or even absent in organisations, with the implication that if requirements are not identified and agreed there is no reason that they would be met. As part of the second circle of the “7 circles diagram”, the team has released a paper outlining the proposed approach to developing information requirements, based on the analysis of process models. This is a novel approach, ensuring the systematic identification of information needed (no more, no less) to support decisions and to identify where it is captured.
I encourage you to watch Al Cook’s presentation in the second part of the video to find out more about this approach.
The team and I hope to share more detailed guidance on information management in the near future, helping you to assess your organisation’s current information management maturity, prioritise areas for obvious improvements in decision-making and start addressing them, so that mistakes can be avoided and better outcomes achieved.
And as we continue to further develop the Information Management Framework, we look forward to accompanying you through the discovery of other circles among the 7 circles of Information Management.
This video contains an introduction to the 7 circles of Information Management presented by Matthew West followed by a presentation by Al Cook on a suggested approach to define information requirements. Al and Matthew look forward to answering your questions and talking about next steps in a live Q&A session on the DT Hub, on the 15/07 from 10:00 to 10:30.
It’s really rewarding to see the sustained growth we have managed to achieve over the past year. Every day when I log in to the DT Hub there is a new post, additional members, or an enquiry from a different part of the world. It’s exciting to think of the potential – if we have got to this point in just 12 months, then hopefully, in the near future, we will have hundreds of people logging on every day, from different sectors around the world, together furthering our understanding of connected digital twins.
A multi-sectoral centre
We believe the DT Hub is uniquely placed to bring together the best thinking and best ideas from all sectors, and people from all levels within those sectors, to discuss connected digital twins. With that goal in mind, we are broadening the Hub from focusing solely on the built environment into other sectors, starting with manufacturing, energy and defence.
Although digital twins vary across sectors there is a huge amount we can learn from one another. For example, there is a lot of activity in the application of digital twins in advanced manufacturing. Although the replication of aircraft engines is a very different beast to the built environment, there is knowledge they have accumulated that lends itself to the built environment and vice versa. There will inevitably be conversations that are sector specific, but as facilitators we will ensure that we find similarities or useful learnings that can be shared.
To make it easier to contribute to the conversation and share information, we will be refreshing the DT Hub website in tandem with our expansion. We want to improve the useability of the platform to make it more conducive to discussion.
The next step is for people to then add to that discussion! We’ve already seen some interesting threads, but would like to encourage others to jump in. Real value and progress comes from a broad spectrum of perspectives and we really appreciate any question, insight or piece of feedback.
An international centre
Not only do we want the DT Hub to be the home of digital twins across sectors, but across borders too. The progress we’ve made gives us a great opportunity to lead internationally and become a central Hub for others to gather. There is already a lot of exploratory work going on in countries such as Australia and New Zealand who have been looking to the DT Hub as a template to build their own communities of interested people.
The DT Hub can then act as host to these different communities and drive progress through our combined passion to see knowledge and learning shared in an inclusive way.
DT Hub to host Cyber-Physical Fabric Summit
An important event on our calendar that I want to flag is the Cyber-Physical Fabric Summit on 19 July 2021 from 10:00 – 16:00. This online summit will explore the power of federated digital twins and cyber-physical infrastructure at a national scale, and is supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering, BEIS, UKRI, GoScience, Alan Turing Institute, Centre for Digital Built Britain and Robotics Growth Partnership.
The day will start with an introduction laying out the opportunities and challenges we face as a nation and as a planet. This will be followed by 4 expert-led panels, each with a Q&A session. The first is chaired by Paul Clarke CBE on the cyber physical fabric; followed by a panel on data and technical interoperability chaired by Professor Dame Wendy Hall; after lunch, Professor David Lane CBE will chair a panel on research; followed by a panel on adoption chaired by Mark Enzer OBE . The four panel chairs will convene a final plenary session.
To register for this event, please follow this link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/158710951729
We hope to see you there!
Read more...
May was a particularly encouraging month for all of us on the National Digital Twin programme, as we received continued Government support and with it, a clear validation of the progress we have made. At a time when the government is facing multiple challenges and demands on finances, it is heartening that they have recognised the value of the programme.
It has enabled us to fine-tune our planning and I’m excited to highlight three key projects we’ll be focusing on this year.
1. Climate Resilience Demonstrator (CReDo)
The National Digital Twin Climate Resilience Demonstrator, or CReDo, is a very exciting project for the NDTp this year. The purpose of CReDo is to provide a tangible working example of the National Digital Twin - a 'thin slice' of the envisaged ecosystem of connected digital twins. It is intended to demonstrate meaningful secure, resilient information sharing across organisational and sectoral boundaries in the domain of climate resilience for the water, energy and telecoms sectors.
CReDo will integrate data between energy, water and telecoms networks to improve climate resilience decision-making across infrastructure systems. It will look specifically at the impact of extreme weather, in particular flooding, on energy, water and telecoms networks and how those who own and operate them can plan to mitigate the effect of flooding on network performance and service delivery to customers. CReDo will be one of the first climate change adaptation cross-organisational systems which show how greater access to the right information can help to manage the impact of climate change.
CReDo will be delivered by a collaboration between leading asset owners, domain experts and UK research centres, funded by Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Connected Places Catapult and the University of Cambridge.
CReDo is also a unique learning opportunity and we are as excited by what we will learn from the implementation of CReDo. We are already learning from setting up the data sharing arrangements and security controls for cross organisational data sharing. We intend to provide regular updates and learnings here on the DT Hub and on the Gemini Call.
2. Information Management Framework (IMF)
We will continue to develop the IMF, the foundation that enable the National Digital Twin - an ecosystem of connected digital twins. A key focus for the IMF team will be working closely on the CReDo project, to test the IMF approach for cross-organisational and sectoral data sharing and to learn from the implementation of CReDo to inform the development of the IMF.
The NDTp technical team presented last year's outputs and the plans for the current year at an event in collaboration with the Newton Gateway to Mathematics: 4-Dimensionalism in Large Scale Data Sharing and Integration (recordings and slides included).
3. Digital Twin Hub
We will continue developing the DT Hub as the knowledge centre of the NTDp and the go-to place to find information on connected digital twins. We will also continue to grow the community and start to involve sectors beyond the built environment for example with the advanced manufacturing community. They are making transformational leaps forward in their use of digital twins and we’re looking forward to welcoming them to the community.
In addition to the three key projects, we have additional support from the University of Cambridge to support additional activities which we will share more on in the coming months.
So, there is plenty to keep us busy! There’s also a real sense of momentum as we move forward and grow, and an appreciation for the multiple entities supporting the NDTp. I think CReDo offers us a unique opportunity and I’m really looking forward to working with the new partners we will be collaborating with. As ever, we will keep you updated and are grateful for any feedback.
We have seen over the past year how the COVID-19 response has accelerated the speed and scale of digital transformation. One of the most striking developments is the huge momentum towards the adoption of digital twins in the built environment.
It’s an important step forward as there is immense value for the UK in unlocking the potential of digital twins. However, it needs to be done in the right way - built on good values, as well as a shared foundation and framework to support the end goal of secure data exchange and interoperability. This is why the development of a set of standards is crucial and a key aim of the Construction Innovation Hub (the Hub). Working with the CDBB’s National Digital Twin Programme (NDTp) and the British Standards Institute (BSI), we’ve already made significant progress towards that goal and it’s exciting to be pioneers in establishing what will hopefully be a common language - guidelines that can be used, not just here in the UK, but globally.
Keeping pace with a rapidly evolving market
Standards are typically seen as offering clarity and consistency – but the methodology traditionally used to develop them does not necessarily offer agility as it can often take years. We are collaborating again with both the NDTp and the BSI to produce a visionary white paper exploring the benefits of developing standards that are more dynamic, flexible and agile.
The need for agility is driven by the pace of change in the digital sector - good practice needs to adapt at the same rate. Agile approaches to standardization are a way of remaining relevant and delivering value by acting as up-to-date reference points, even at times of great uncertainty and change.
Ensuring that standards can evolve and flex to facilitate and support innovation is a key driver for both the National Digital Twin programme and the Construction Innovation Hub. This White Paper and the development of the new Flex Standard is a really positive move for future disruption, which will drive the sector forward. Driving innovation and cutting edge practice including the development of digital twins helping to advance the construction sector and beyond.
We are not creating something completely untested – we can look at the evidence found in the software development industry, where agile methodologies and DevOps have delivered high quality working code, continuously at scale. This paper sets out how we can learn from such techniques and apply them to the world of standards.
Alongside the white paper we are running a pilot using BSI’s new agile standardisation service (BSI Flex) to demonstrate why agile standards are the right approach to use in the digital twin space. BSI Flex develops consensus-based good practice that adapts to keep pace with fast changing markets such as the digital twin market. Update We are looking forward to delivering the latest phase of this work, with consultation on the pilot standard beginning at the end October 2021.
An interesting example of how BSI Flex has been used recently was in developing Safe Working Guidelines with the onset of the pandemic. BSI published its first Safe Working Guidelines BSI Flex standard in May 2020, and Versions 2 and 3 followed in July and August. The first version was produced in just two weeks and the subsequent iterations benefitted from comments received during public consultation. The Guidelines were then used as the basis of a new international standard. It demonstrated that in such a fast-changing environment, where everyone was faced with unprecedented challenges, a flexible approach to creating a standard was the right approach.
The standards journey so far
The agile standards white paper is building on early standards groundwork that was undertaken within the Digital Twin (DT) Hub and BSI over the last year. It consisted of:
Research to produce a Landscape report on existing standards related to digital twins, including a gap analysis of areas which require further development
The publication of a Standards Roadmap for digital twins, which guides and recommends potential development of standards within the digital twin sector.
Dan Rossiter, Brand Ambassador to the National Digital Twin programme gives an overview on the standards groundwork that has taken place so far.
Each step of the way, consensus and collaboration have been essential and we’re enormously grateful for all the various stakeholders who have offered feedback and advice. We’re looking forward to sharing this white paper with you and again receiving all your comments. It’s a really exciting development and paves the way for the first standard for digital twins due to be published for open consultation later this summer. They will shape the future of our built environment, ensuring safety, quality and value.
Ron Lang, Chief Technical Officer, Construction Innovation Hub
The attached guide was put together from discussions and knowledge share through the Infrastructure Asset Data Dictionary for the UK (IADD4UK) group between 2013 and 2018. Updated where appropriate to include the most recent standards and some additional thought leadership.
The IADD4UK initiative was formed of the foremost owners, major projects, delivery partners and interested parties under the chairmanship of the COMIT innovations group. A list of participants can be found at the rear of this guide.
Early in our BIM journey it was recognised that data and its slightly more refined form, information would be the key. We had standards as how to classify it, manage it, secure it, procure it, exchange it, but nothing about what “it” actually was.
It was also understood that this required information would have an impact on everything we do with our assets, across the entirety of its lifecycle. That impact had a relationship with the outcomes delivered to their respective clients, whether that was an end user, consumer, member of the public, a shareholder or the country itself. The delivery of the outcomes ensured that there was a value in the information, without which their upkeep would not be possible.
The IADD4UK group was put together with an agreement to research and document the best way to create information requirements, not to write them, but it was agreed that if organisations could come together when writing them, the costs and risk could be shared and the benefits doubled.
The reason for increased benefits, were that when assets were transferred from one owner to another, or between delivery partners they would be described in the same way, negating the risks of translation and converting information from one system to another. Key assets in infrastructure are basically the same, whether they are owned by a transport, communications, energy or water company. They will have the same questions, tasks and decisions during their lifecycle. The answers will be different, but the basic information requirement will be largely the same. This commonality across owners could help reduce the procurement costs and the risks of generating, managing and exchanging each information set with the side effect of reducing interoperability issues between software packages.
In 2017 the IADD4UK organisation was put on hold for various reasons, chiefly lack of funding to both create and curate a common information requirements dictionary. This meant that the participants in the initiative dispersed to create their own data dictionaries utilising some of the methods and processes shared with you in this guide.
Writing information requriements by IADD4UK.pdf Read more...
Something related to digital twins:
"Delta Sharing is the industry’s first open protocol for secure data sharing, making it simple to share data with other organizations regardless of which computing platforms they use." -https://delta.io/sharing/
More information:
<Introducing Delta Sharing: An Open Protocol for Secure Data Sharing> https://databricks.com/blog/2021/05/26/introducing-delta-sharing-an-open-protocol-for-secure-data-sharing.html
Read more...
The vision of a National Digital Twin as an ecosystem of connected digital twins enabling better social and economic outcomes across the built environment continues to gain wide support. But to make it a reality, we need people with the right skills to put it into play.
“Collaborate on the rules and compete on the game” is a phrase we use to describe how we want connected digital twins to evolve. The sporting analogy carries over well into skills. We want the best teams to deliver on the National Digital Twin, not just a team of strikers or goalkeepers but diverse teams with a range of skillsets and capabilities. Diversity has to be at the heart of a skills strategy ensuring that the future workforce is more effective.
The skills & competency framework sets out the skills that are needed to manage information and work with data in the future. These aren’t just what we might see as hardcore technical skills such as data modelling and analytics which are described as digital skills but also business skills like transformational leadership which recognises the benefits of getting information management right.
The capability enhancement programme sets out pathways for individuals and organisations to get the right skills in place depending upon aspirations both at the personal level and the organisational level. Have a go at the self-assessment questionnaire to assess what training might be helpful to you and take a look at the training register to find a suitable course.
The National Digital Twin is a long term journey and there is time to get the right skills in place to reach our destination.
Read more...
It’s always an exciting moment for me when I see the latest DT Hub community membership numbers. The Hub is a critical part of the National Digital Twin Programme, so I find it encouraging to see membership numbers continually ticking upwards. In my last editorial, I was looking ahead to the 1,000 member landmark, but in the three months since we have actually exceeded 1,500 members.
Since opening up to international membership in February, the DT Hub now has more than 800 distinct organisations, from 60 different countries. There has been a lot of interest from the US, Australia, New Zealand and Europe, but also from further afield, such as South Korea, Brazil and Lebanon!
Through these international connections we’re gaining a better insight in to what is happening in the digital twin space elsewhere. For example, we are connected with the Smart City’s Council Hub in both Australia and New Zealand and now talk to them on a monthly basis. We’re keen on collaborating with other international initiative moving forward and other organisations that share our philosophy of data for the public good.
Other activities I would like to highlight are:
Release of the Digital Twin Toolkit. Developed by the community for the community, the toolkit was released in February in a joint event with TechUK, who released their report: ‘Unlocking Value Across the UK’s Digital Twin Ecosystem’. The toolkit is a practical guide that walks users through the various steps in building a digital twin and provides a business case template and various case studies. It can be freely accessed on the DT Hub by registered members. You can download the DT Toolkit on this link.
Summary of IMF Consultation. Last May, the NDTp published our proposed ‘Pathway towards an Information Management Framework’, followed by an open consultation feedback process. We’re really grateful for all the responses we received and together they have given us a clear direction of travel. The summary will contribute to refine the Pathway document that will refocus efforts in light of what has been learnt. You can view the summary via this link.
Progress towards IMF technical foundations. There are three main components to the technical core of the IMF: a Foundation Data Model, a Reference Data Library, and an Integration Architecture. The pragmatic and technical requirements for the Foundation Data Model have now been developed and there are four Top-Level Ontologies that meet all the technical requirements: BORO, IDEAS, HQDM and ISO 15926-2. They are distinct from the other reviewed Top-Level Ontologies in that they allow us to see individual objects as four-dimensional, having both spatial and temporal parts. You can view the latest publication on the recommended approach to develop the Foundation Data Model via this link.
Skills and Competency Framework report. In partnership with the Construction Innovation Hub, the NDTp has released a Skills and Competency Framework to help individuals, organisations and training bodies to understand the skills and competencies needed to support the goal of a National Digital Twin. This new resource will help the industry assess any gaps in skills, while setting out a learning pathway for people involved in developing and implementing the IMF and digital twins. The development of people and skills is a crucial part of the process, but even more important is that organisations undergo a cultural shift towards data quality. They need to care for data in the same way they would a physical asset. We hope that when data is seen as a precious asset, then the investment in the skills and careers needed to support it will be prioritised
New Gemini Case Study: Infrastructure Mapping Application for London. Built from a prototype in 2015, the IMA 2.0 is an innovative, versatile tool to support improved planning, delivery, and coordination of London’s infrastructure through the layering of data and visualisation technologies. It includes both a publicly accessible site and a password-protected site for more sensitive data sharing. It provides a really clear example of the Gemini Principles in practice. It is open, insightful and secure and has created cost savings, as well as mitigating transport disruption. It has evolved in to an essential component of the Infrastructure Coordination Service (ICS), providing valuable data for the ICS and wider users.
As I go through the process of highlighting all these various projects, it is a reminder of the progress we’ve made, none of which would have been possible without the huge support we’ve received from academia, industry and Government. So I want to extend my thanks for all your encouragement and feedback, as well as for sharing our desire to work together for the public good.
Read more...
Last month, on Thursday 25 February, techUK released a landmark report ‘Unlocking Value Across the UK’s Digital Twin Ecosystem’, alongside the much anticipated publication of the CDBB’s ‘Digital Twin Toolkit’ report. Please see here for the full recording of the session:
To kick-off, Tom Henderson (Programme Manager, Smart Infrastructure & Systems, techUK) thanked members of the Digital Twins Working Group (DTWG) for their deep insight and hard work, welcoming the publication before running through the different parameters of techUK's report- highlighting the core strategic conclusions and recommendations (2:57) which focus on the need to:
Develop a cross-cutting, interdisciplinary coordinating body to drive forward digital twin adoption and diffusion in the UK
Demonstrate value from (and explore barriers to) the adoption and diffusion of digital twins via a series of strategic demonstrators
Trigger the adoption of digital twins across the UK by exploring the development of an online digital twin procurement portal
Work with industry to identify talent pipeline requirements and anticipate levels of future demand for skills across the UK’s digital twin ecosystem
Fund a Net Zero 2050 digital twin demonstrator to establish the UK as a global leader in leveraging digital twins for decarbonisation
Following the release of the techUK report, Sarah Hayes (Change Stream Lead, National Digital Twin Programme) provided an insightful overview of the NDTP and ran through the significance and findings of the newly released DT Toolkit (9:05), which looks at:
What is a digital twin?
What can a digital twin be used for?
Key case studies
How to build a business case template?
How to develop a digital twin roadmap?
Thanking the Toolkit team for their hard work and deep technical expertise, Sarah signposted the opportunity to continue engaging in the development and application of the DT Toolkit via the Digital Twin Hub – an online resource where you can learn more about emerging digital twin initiatives and share insights across the UK’s digital twin ecosystem. techUK looks forward to continuing work with the CDBB and encourages techUK members of all shapes and sizes to sign up for the DT Hub moving forward!
Subsequently (23:30), delegates heard from the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Science, Research and Innovation – Amanda Solloway MP, who took the time to welcome the publication of the reports and expressed optimism around the role that digital twin technologies can play in enabling the UK to become a world-leading scientific superpower.
In particular, the Minister discussed the link between digital twins and possibilities to drive prosperity, create new products, services, and jobs, and to transform public services. techUK would like to thank Minister Solloway for taking the time, and welcomes the Government’s recognition that digital twins are critical – not only for our recovery from the pandemic, but also to our long-term growth and productivity.
Download and read the full report here.
Industries involved in the creation and management of built assets require effective, resilient and secure data and information sharing and aggregation. Much of this information is needed throughout the life of the asset and needs to be shared with a number of organisations. This is critical not only for asset management, but to support the services provided by the asset, as well as other considerations such as measuring the accumulating carbon in order that a net zero footprint can be achieved.
As a result, a formal mechanism to ensure that the right information can be made available at the right time, to the right people and that the quality of the information is known and understood, is required.
The Information Management Framework (IMF) is such a mechanism, the technical part of which comprises three main elements:
A Foundation Data Model
A Reference Data Library, and
An Integration Architecture.
The Foundation Data Model (or ontology) and Reference Data Library define a common structure and meaning for information that is shared between organisations within and across sectors and domains. Together, therefore, they enable the consistent sharing and integration of information. The Integration Architecture comprises a combination of technologies that enables this sharing of data between databases and the systems that use them.
The pragmatic and technical requirements for the Foundation Data Model have now been developed and consideration has been given as to whether any existing Top-Level Ontologies could be used as a suitable start-point.
There are four Top-Level Ontologies that meet all the technical requirements: BORO, IDEAS, HQDM and ISO 15926-2. They are distinct from the other Top-Level Ontologies in being 4-dimensionalist. These allow us to see individual objects as four-dimensional, having both spatial and temporal parts.
We are therefore proceeding to develop the Foundation Data Model seed from these 4-dimensionalist Top-Level Ontologies.
More detailed information on the requirements and the process followed is set out in the ‘Top-Level Ontology Survey’ and the attached ‘The Approach to Develop the Foundation Data Model for the Information Management Framework’ documents.
The Approach to Develop the FDM for the IMF.pdf Read more...
When the DT Hub was launched, our aim was to underpin all the content, discussion and collaboration with a sense of inclusivity. A year on, that goal very much remains - our feeling is that the more diverse perspectives we can bring into the community, the better. We want everyone to feel comfortable adding to the conversation, whatever their background and wherever they are on their digital twin journey. We hope that everyone feels that there is no question too simple or too complex to put forward.
With that in mind, it is wonderful to see the community widening and in February we welcomed international members. In just 3 weeks we had 350 new members join, a 35% increase in our overall membership numbers. It demonstrated again the appetite that exists for being part of a collaborative community. It also paves the way for connecting infrastructure beyond our national borders. Even if digital twins across countries might not be possible for another 10 or 20 years, bringing people into the conversation as early as possible maximises the chance of success.
Connecting Academia and Industry
In February, we also launched the Research Register to encourage greater collaboration between academia and industry. We’re aware that industry aren’t always clear about what is happening in research, or how to engage with them and that research isn’t always as surfaced as it should be. Having a central place for the research to be shared will go a long way to addressing this.
There is benefit for academics too as they often struggle to get real-life scenarios to trial their research against. We hope that this can be a place where they connect with industry partners to help them as they measure applicability and impact.
Hub Insights
A real highlight for me over the last couple of months has been hosting our first few Hub Insights interviews. It has been fascinating to hear what some of our members are up to in the digital twin space, but also to capture the kind of interactions we would normally be having outside the virtual world – a chance to ask a bit about who they are and their journey to where they are now.
The shared take-away from all the interviews is that they are deeply passionate about unlocking the value of digital twins. Working for the public good is a huge motivation and Alexandra Bolton, Executive Director for CDBB, summed it up well in our first interview, “If we can connect data and use it better, we can find the right answers to some of the biggest questions and make a real difference to the lives of future generations.”
Coming up in March
As we reach our one year anniversary, we will be taking stock in our first annual benchmark report, to be released this month. It’s an opportunity for us to share the progress and learnings we have made as we’ve grown from a community of 10 members to over 1,200. It’s also a chance to define a set of objectives and recommendations for 2021, based on careful reflection.
We will also continue with our Hub Insights series. On March 16th at 11:30 I will be interviewing May Winfield from BuroHappold Engineering and Peter Van Manen from Frazer-Nash Consultancy. They were both a part of the toolkit team which developed the Digital Twin Toolkit. Please register now to join us.
An ongoing focus for March and the rest of the year is establishing a community council which will help transition the DT Hub into more of a community-led group. We’re hoping they can help build connections and drive conversations.
As a result of some of the conversations we’ve already had on the Hub, we are now ready to commence on the first standards in the built environment for digital twins. It’s really through the feedback and insights of the community that projects like this are coming to fruition and the final report is due in May.
To keep posted on all the above please check in regularly on the DT Hub website as well as on our social media channels: Twitter - @CambridgeCDBB and LinkedIn – Digital Twin Hub.
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