Digital Twinning NetworkPlus: DTNet+
Lead Research Organisation:
The Alan Turing Institute
Department Name: Research
Abstract
Digital twins are a fusion of digital technologies considered by many leading advocates to be revolutionary in nature. Digital twins offer exciting new possibilities across a wide range of sectors from health, environment, transport, manufacturing, defence, and infrastructure. By connecting the virtual and physical worlds (e.g. cyber-physcial), digital twins are able to better support decisions, extend operational lives, and introduce multiple other efficiencies and benefits. As a result, digital twins have been identified by government, professional bodies and industry, as a key technology to help address many of the societal challenges we face.
To date, digital twin (DT) innovation has been strongly driven by industry practitioners and commercial innovators. As would be expected with any early-adoption approach, projects have been bespoke & often isolated, and so there is a need for research to increase access, lower entry costs and develop interconnectivity. Furthermore, there are several major gaps in underpinning academic research relating to DT. The academic push has been significantly lagging behind the industry pull. As a result, there is an urgent need for a network that will fill gaps in the underpinning research for topics such as; uncertainty, interoperability, scaling, governance & societal effects.
In terms of existing networking activities, there are several industry-led user groups and domain-specific consortia. However, there has never been a dedicated academic-led DT network that brings together academic research teams across the entire remit of UKRI with user-led groups. DTNet+ will address this gap with a consortium which has both sufficient breadth and depth to deliver transformative change.
To date, digital twin (DT) innovation has been strongly driven by industry practitioners and commercial innovators. As would be expected with any early-adoption approach, projects have been bespoke & often isolated, and so there is a need for research to increase access, lower entry costs and develop interconnectivity. Furthermore, there are several major gaps in underpinning academic research relating to DT. The academic push has been significantly lagging behind the industry pull. As a result, there is an urgent need for a network that will fill gaps in the underpinning research for topics such as; uncertainty, interoperability, scaling, governance & societal effects.
In terms of existing networking activities, there are several industry-led user groups and domain-specific consortia. However, there has never been a dedicated academic-led DT network that brings together academic research teams across the entire remit of UKRI with user-led groups. DTNet+ will address this gap with a consortium which has both sufficient breadth and depth to deliver transformative change.
Organisations
- The Alan Turing Institute (Lead Research Organisation)
- ANSYS (International) (Project Partner)
- Medtronic (Project Partner)
- GSK (Global) (Project Partner)
- QinetiQ (Malvern) (Project Partner)
- AddQual (Project Partner)
- The National Robotarium (Project Partner)
- Virtual Physiological Human Institute (Project Partner)
- UK Research Centre in NDE (Project Partner)
- Arup (Project Partner)
- ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (Project Partner)
- Dover Harbour Board (DHB) (Project Partner)
- UK Coll for Res in Infra & Cities UKCRIC (Project Partner)
- Digital Catapult (Project Partner)
- HCL Technologies Ltd (Project Partner)
- Discovery Park Limited (Project Partner)
- Iknaia Limited (Project Partner)
- Be-St (Project Partner)
- BMT Limited (Project Partner)
- National Police Chief's Council (Project Partner)
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (Project Partner)
- Nissan Technical Centre Europe Ltd (Project Partner)
- Laing O'Rourke plc (Project Partner)
- Newcastle Health Innovation Partners (Project Partner)
- Anglian Water (Project Partner)
- Network Rail Limited (Project Partner)
- Connected Places Catapult (Project Partner)
- EDF Energy R&D UK Centre Limited (Project Partner)
- Port of Tyne (Project Partner)
- KEEN AI Ltd (Project Partner)
- DAFNI Data & Analytics Fac f Natl Infra (Project Partner)
- AstraZeneca (Project Partner)
- Fujitsu (Project Partner)
- Scottish Research Partnership in Eng (Project Partner)
- BTL Group LTD (Project Partner)
- Iotics (UK) (Project Partner)
- Information Junction Ltd (Project Partner)
- Ericsson Silicon Valley (Project Partner)
- The MathWorks Inc (Project Partner)
- Scotland's Rural College (Project Partner)
- Viettel Group (Project Partner)
- Jacobs (Project Partner)
- Health and Safety Executive (Project Partner)
- COWI UK Limited (Project Partner)
- Sea and Land Project Engineering Limited (Project Partner)
- Hadean Supercomputing Ltd (Project Partner)
- Pinsent Masons LLP (Project Partner)
Publications
Wagg D
(2024)
The philosophical foundations of digital twinning
Wagg D
(2025)
The philosophical foundations of digital twinning
in Data-Centric Engineering
Related Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Award Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/Y016289/1 | 31/07/2023 | 30/08/2025 | £3,967,657 | ||
| EP/Y016289/2 | Transfer | EP/Y016289/1 | 30/08/2025 | 29/08/2030 | £0 |
| Description | AI UK |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | DTNet+ hosted a booth at the Turing Institute's annual AI UK conference. The booth helped expand publicity around the network due to the over 700 attendees and led to an increase in network membership sign ups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Conference planning meeting 30th November (Sheffield University) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The meeting included members of the Executive board and Special Interest Group leads. The purpose of the meeting was to plan for the launch event of the DTNet+ project, the first General Assembly. The group discussed the intended impact and outcomes of the General Assembly, the agenda for the day was reviewed, the topics and themes for the discussions and presentations planned out, and roles allocated. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | DTNet+ ECR Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Initial meeting to determine ECR board members for DTNet+ network and SIG Groups. 4 ECRS were selected to represent ECR activities for the larger network and to ensure ECRs were included in future network events and publications. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | DTNet+ Early Career Network Newsletter Launch |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | DTNet+ launched its programme newsletter for over 600 network members. The newsletter keeps members updated on upcoming events and network activities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | DTNet+ Ideation Meeting at Ulster |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Meeting that brought together over 118 attendees ranging from early career researchers from academia to industry and leading experts to discuss the next frontier of digital twinning technology across 10 special interest groups and eight themes. Encouraged cross collaboration research opportunities and connected over 71 early career researchers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.dtnetplus.ac.uk/events/dtnet-ideation-meeting-ulster-university-belfast-27th-28th-june-2... |
| Description | DTNet+ Inaugural Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | DTNet+ Inaugural Meeting launched the network to a public platform and connected over 60 Early Career Researchers through the formation of our Special Interest Groups. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.dtnetplus.ac.uk/events/digital-twinning-network-plus-launch-event |
| Description | General Assembly 17th January (London) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The first DTNet+ General Assembly was an in person event featuring engaging talks, interactive workshops, and insightful panel discussions led by academic/industry experts. During this meeting we intended to achieve two main things: Firstly, to bring together people with shared interests in digital twinning, and to start networking & community building. Second, to gather views on the most important research topics, roadblocks and potential opportunities These two activities will be important in shaping the network in advance of the first round of pilot project activities |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| Description | Inaugural Executive Board Meeting 24th August |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The inaugural meeting of the Executive Board for the project explored project governance, ways of working, potential opportunities for collaboration and future meetings and how the best to organise the project over the next five years. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Increasing the membership network for the DTNet+ |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Encouraging and directing people to sign up to join the community as a member of the network, building our client relationship list. This helps grow the network, reaching people nationally with news about the Digital Twinning NetworkPlus project. This community has increased substantially since our General Assembly in January and the launch of the DTNet+ website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023,2024 |
| URL | https://www.dtnetplus.ac.uk/ |
| Description | Project planning meeting 3rd October |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The meeting explored the special interest groups that are likely to form the backbone of the project. Presentations were given, snergies, overlaps and ways of working were discussed. The partners and collaborators also reviewed the balance between the sciences and social sciences, the geographical reach of the project and the need to ensure EDI and Widening Participation are central to the work. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Sheffield Sandpit Meeting |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The Sheffield Sandpit was DTNet+'s pilot sandpit event that launched Special Interest Groups to the broader network. Over two days, 46 researchers and SIG leads had the opportunity to connect and discuss pressing research issues in the field of Digital Twins. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
| URL | https://www.dtnetplus.ac.uk/events/dtnet-sheffield-university-sandpit-september-2024 |
| Description | Website landing page launched - 20th December |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The official DTnet+ website landing page was launched on the 20th of December with the option for interested parties to join our community. We expect subsequent pages to be added and for the website to be complete by the end of February. The website was promoted during our first General Assembly on Wednesday 17th January |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| URL | https://www.dtnetplus.ac.uk/ |