Submitted by Angela Walters on Fri, 05/07/2019 - 13:42
Following the release of tickets to the National Digital Twin Day, Mark Enzer, CTO of Mott MacDonald and Chair of CDBB’s Digital Framework Task Group (DFTG), looks forward to a day celebrating our progress so far towards a National Digital Twin and enabling people at all stages of their digital twin journey to come together and share knowledge. The event kicks off CDBB Week– a series of activities showcasing the various workstreams of CDBB, including highlighting the research programme at the CDBB Summer Research Showcase on Thursday 12 September in Cambridge.
“I am thrilled that CDBB is partnering with the ICE to present National Digital Twin day at the ICE’s headquarters in London on Monday 9th September. Since CDBB’s DFTG was established just over a year ago, we have made substantial progress towards providing the foundations from which a National Digital Twin (NDT) can develop. The Gemini Principles, the ‘conscience’ of the NDT, were published late last year and since then we have published the Roadmap, which provides a prioritised plan for the Information Management Framework that will enable the NDT. The next step is to start delivering that prioritised plan and engaging with the wider community to enable alignment. In fact, we have recently released tenders to help us on these next steps of the journey, the DT Hub tender closes on 19 July, and the Enablers tender closes in August. Full details on how to get involved are on the CDBB web pages.
On the morning of National Digital Twin Day, we will present our progress and plans in more detail. Following the introductory keynote from a high-level government representative, I will speak about the work of CDBB’s DFTG and Samuel Chorlton will give an overview of the “DT Hub”, the collaborative web-enabled learning community that we are creating to advance digital twin capability and practice. There will be plenty of opportunity for the participants to provide input via questions and panel sessions that will include key members of the Infrastructure Client Group. I am very pleased that Sam Stacey, Challenge Director at UKRI, will be talking about the way that the Transforming Construction Challenge programme will provide support and that he work of the Digital Transformation Task Group (DTTG) in producing the Smart Infrastructure Index report will be presented by Jamie Radford.
To support organisations wishing to put digital twins into practice, Molly Strauss will present the Greater London Authorities experience with London’s digital twins and Peter Van Manen will provide a perspective of the benefits of digital twins from the Formula 1 sector. More information and speakers will be announced in due course – please visit the event page on the ICE website for the latest agenda.
In the afternoon, we will be creating a ‘Town Square’ networking event to enable DT owners to mix with DT suppliers. This will enable those who already own or who are considering digital twins to catch a glimpse of the 'art of the possible' from those who provide products and services for digital twins. We will also be holding themed parallel sessions tailored to attendees at all stages of their DT journey, with a ‘Digital Twins Explained’ session for people new to the opportunity, a ‘Digital Twin Early Adopters’ session aimed at those currently using DTs who want to share learning experiences, and a ‘Digital Twins Enhanced’ session aimed at pioneers who wish to maximise their digital twins.
The event is also an opportunity to celebrate what has been achieved so far, and to thank all those who have given their time to help us to do this. These are still very early days, so hopefully the event will encourage others to step up and join us on the journey, maybe even by getting involved in CDBB’s ‘task and finish’ Working Groups that have been so useful in driving progress on the Roadmap so far.
We are keen to involve organisations at the heart of the digital transformation in infrastructure and a limited number of partnership opportunities are available – please contact our colleagues at ICE to find out how your organisation can be a part of National Digital Twin Day (george.kalathil@ice.org.uk contact details on the event page). We are particularly keen for SMEs and start-ups to be involved in the ‘Town Square’ as we recognise that a vibrant innovative community is developing and our forum will assist their early steps.
I hope that you will join us on National Digital Twin Day and help to drive collaboration between government, academia and industry, working together in the built environment to drive an information-based industry, in which better decisions, based on better data, lead to better outcomes for the ultimate customers – the people of the UK.”