Giving Digital Twins the IMPETUS to become regional

That’s according to Christos Makropoulos, a professor at the National Technical University of Athens and a principal scientist at KWR, involved in the Horizon 2020-funded project IMPETUS.

The project’s goal is to turn high level climate commitments into tangible actions to protect local communities.

Tangible, urgent actions

A four-year project as part of the EU Water topic “Climate-resilient Innovation Packages for EU regions”, IMPETUS brings together a multi-disciplinary consortium of 32 partners.

“The solutions we develop aspire to help regions develop adaptation pathways – and regional digital twins are an important piece of this puzzle” said Makropoulos. “Rather than ‘twining’ a particular treatment plant or water solution network, this is about a digital representation at a regional scale.”

In the context of water, digital twins are an “actively integrated, accurate digital representation of our physical assets, systems, and processes with a constant stream of data linking them to the physical counterparts for continuous model update and calibration – and vice versa”.

Taking a broader view, Makropoulos believes that a digital twin of a region could eventually be used as evidence-base for discussions between stakeholders.

“Imagine a region as a puzzle board, with the environmental situation updated in real-time. Relevant information can be added so that the stakeholders can access a shared picture of what is currently happening and how things may evolve.” he added.

One of the aims of IMPETUS is to help turn climate commitments into tangible, urgent actions to protect communities. This includes helping accelerate Europe’s climate adaptation strategy and meet ambitions to become the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050.

A convergence of [software] worlds

The professor believes that we are witnessing the convergence of software ‘worlds’: BIM (building information modelling), GIS (geographic information systems) and environmental and infrastructure modelling (e.g. simulations of water distribution systems)

“The term digital twin has caught up faster than the technology has matured. But it promoted an increased realisation that more system integration is needed to see real value. Although we don’t have full blown (off the shelf) digital twin technologies, we are taking steps toward this integration. The idea of digital twins provides a point in the horizon to help with our integration course,” he added.

Despite the ambitions, legislative and commercial challenges remain, as well as cyber security issues.

Makropoulos participated in a previous, related H2020 EU project called STOP-IT (Strategic, Tactical, Operational Protection of water Infrastructure against cyber-physical Threats), which addressed water infrastructure as cyber-physical infrastructure. A toolkit was developed that allowed utilities to explore interactions between the cyber and physical systems from a security perspective.

“The more we create digital twins, the more relevant cyber, physical and whole system approaches to security becomes – it’s important to go in with our eyes open,” the professor concludes.

– For more information, visit: https://www.kwrwater.nl/en/projecten/impetus/

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About KWR

KWR Water Research Institute generates knowledge to enable the water sector to operate water-wisely in our urbanised society. At KWR, we have a sense of professional and social responsibility for the quality of water. Our scientific findings and the resulting practical innovations contribute worldwide to sustainable water provision in the urban water cycle. KWR has a staff of about 170 and is owned by the shareholders’ organisation KWH Water BV.