Successful virtual kick-off for the Digital Twin Cities Centre

With over 70 participants representing 30 partners from academia, industry and the public sector, the newDigital Twin Cities Centre (DTCC) was launched in a virtual kick-off event. Due to the Covid-19 situation, the kick-off took place in the form of large video conference.

“We were looking forward to meet physically to really engage in discussions, but under these circumstances we all have to change the way we work and luckily we are well prepared to do most DTCC activities online”, says Bernd Ketzler, Centre Coordinator. Besides introducing all partners to the operations of the centre,the main purpose of the event was tostart the discussions on concrete research activities. Through severalonline workshops and a survey, all partners will work together to establish a detailed planin the next few weeks. Lina Vicsai, Ramboll Sweden, stresses the importance of collaboration across disciplines and sectors:“Building a Digital Twin of a city is a complex and challenging task that requires resources, ideas and experience from researchers, businesses and our municipalities”.One of the Swedish flagship projects is “Virtual Gothenburg”, aiming to create a digital copy of Gothenburg to plan, manage and build the city more efficiently. Eric Jeansson, project lead for Virtual Gothenburg, presented the city’s ambitious vision at the kick-off and highlighted the potentials of Digital Twinsfor municipalities. 

The Centre DirectorProfessor Anders Loggfrom Chalmers is very pleased that the centre is now operational. “We have been working towards this day for a long time, first in preparing the centre application and then working hard with administrative preparations for the launch of the centre and the kick-off. I’m very happy that DTCC is now officially launched and look forward to working closely together with all the talented participants of the centre.”

Background

The Digital Twin Cities Centrehosted by Chalmers is 1 of 21 competence centresfunded by VINNOVA, Sweden’s innovation agency. The centre aims to establish Digital Twin Cities as the foundation for digitalplanning, design, construction and management of sustainable, intelligent and inclusive Swedish cities and regions.A broad consortium of 30Swedish and international stakeholders will cooperate in the Digital Twin CitiesCentre. Cutting-edge research will be conducted in eight different research areas, covering all aspects needed to develop large-scale digital twin technology.

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