Issue link: https://fhpublishing.uberflip.com/i/1218318
NETWORK / 14 / MARCH 2020 DIGITAL T WINS It just takes two Elaine Knutt looks at the Centre for Digital Built Britain's National Digital Twin Programme. Will digital twins be the answer to maximising data? with data flowing in all direc- tions. High quality, cyber-secure, standardised data would bring the ability to predict and re- spond to future scenarios. Ideas in action The idea was expounded in a 2018 report from the National Infrastructure Commission, Data for the Public Good, which recommended that the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB), a partnership between the University of Cambridge and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), should create pilots and develop the necessary data-sharing codes and standards. The idea also forms the next chapter in the UK government's eters of every public and private building, and every piece of transport and energy infrastruc - ture, can be monitored digitally in real time. By interrogating interoperable data from building management systems, Internet of Things sensors, network management so‹ware or even autonomous vehicles – then applying machine learning or artificial intelligence algorithms – private sector owners or public sector operators will have the real time data needed to make informed investment and opera - tional decisions. Each 'digital twin', built on common data protocols, could then be interconnected with its neighbours, to create a national digital twin, a digital ecosystem N etwork companies are currently upgrading their data manage - ment capabili- ties to imple- ment the recommendations of the Energy Data Taskforce. But beyond regulatory and com- mercial drivers, there is also the societal argument that data can be a force for the public good, by reducing public expenditure and delivering benefits to the en- vironment and economy. That's the underlying principle of an embryonic government initiative to create a National Digital Twin Programme. The idea is that the perfor - mance and operational param- ambition to be a world leader in information management for in- frastructure, following its Build- ing Information Modelling (BIM) policy. Since 2011, the construc- tion sector has been encour- aged by the government's BIM Task Force to create 'level 2' 3D digital design models linked to databases of product and system attributes, to check for hidden errors, synchronise updates and search for efficiencies. "The [BIM] programme has done well for government ef - ficiencies, so it's now looking at what's next," says Amelia Burnett, head of engagement at the CDBB. "The government asked the CDBB to identify what an information framework for the built environment looks like, and how you could create a com - mon approach – like the Internet has TCP/IP protocols for sharing information. There is a real opportunity for the UK to keep leading on the digital transfor- mation of infrastructure." Jeff Casey, UK business development director at Burns and McDonnell, believes that distribution and transmission companies should already be working towards creating their