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Anglian Water is an early adopter of digital twins within the water sector, working closely with the Centre for Digital Built Britain to help develop the market and showcase how digital twins can support an organisation’s strategic outcomes. Anglian Water has a 15 year vision to develop a digital twin to sit alongside its physical assets. From an Anglian Water perspective, the Digital Twin is essentially an accurate digital representation of their physical assets, enabling insight, supporting decision making and leading to better outcomes. Aligning the digital twin objectives to Anglian Water’s regulated outcomes, as defined by the regulator OFWAT, has been a key step in developing the business case. With the initial vision and roadmap outlined the next step on the roadmap was to implement a proof of concept, to explore the value created from digital twins. Anglian Water undertook a discovery phase and a Proof of Concept with Black and Veatch for a Digital Twin back in 2019, and started to define how a Digital Twin would benefit the delivery and management of physical assets. The discovery phase looked to understand the current landscape, further enhancing the vision and roadmap, and establish persona requirements. It proved vital to really understand the organisation and the impact on people during this early exploratory work. The proof of concept looked at delivering three main outputs, focused on a pumping station to keep the scope focused and value measurable: To demonstrate an asset intelligence capability To demonstrate a visualisation capability To examine the asset data and architecture. Alongside the proof of concept other initiatives were kick started to consider how other elements of digital twin might add value, with a focus on more enhanced use of hydraulic models to explore how water networks could be further optimised. Anglian Water recognised early on that by integrating and enhancing many of the existing enterprise systems, existing investments could be leveraged and technology gaps identified. Learning from the proof of concept and other early works Anglian Water looked to the next step of the roadmap, a scaled demonstrator on the Strategic Pipeline Alliance. The Strategic Pipeline Alliance was set up to deliver up to 500km of large scale pipeline, and alongside this to start defining and delivering the first phase of the digital twin. SPA has a 2025 vision is to deliver a large-scale, holistically linked water transfer resilience system. This will be operated, performance managed and maintained using advanced digital technology. The SPA team set about developing a digital twin strategy which is based on the wider corporate vision and enhances the proof of concept work. The basic premise of the SPA digital twin is to integrate traditionally siloed business functions and systems, to deliver enhanced capability across the asset lifecycle. As with Anglian Water the SPA strategy is focused on using the technology available and developing a robust enterprise, integration, and data architecture to create a foundation for digital twin. Taking this a step further it was decided to adopt a product based approach, thinking about the development of digital twin products aligned to physical assets, that could be re-used across the wider Anglian Water enterprise. This whole life product based approach threw up some interesting challenges, namely how to build a business case that delivered benefit to SPA and also enabled Anglian Water’s future ambitions, taking a lifecycle view of the value delivered. To achieve this meant considering and assessing the value to both SPA during the capital delivery phase and Anglian Water during the operational phases. This process also highlighted that certain elements of the digital twin deliver value to both SPA and Anglian Water equally and could therefore be considered as a shared benefit. The resulting benefits register helped to identify the value delivered to the alliance partners which was vital to securing the delivery board sign off. As Anglian Water are a partner in the alliance, the ability to demonstrate value in the operational phase with SPA developing the technical foundation, was another key element in securing the investment. As part of the overall process the SPA board were keen to see how the investment would be allocated, therefore the strategy evolved to incorporate the capabilities to be developed within SPA to enable digital twin. This helped to inform and validate the team for digital twin delivery. With the capabilities and organisational chart resolved, a governance framework was put into place to allow the digital twin evolution to be managed effectively, putting in place the right checks and balances. This has included input and oversight from the wider Anglian Water team as ultimately, they will be responsible for managing the various digital twins long term. To validate the digital twin against the SPA outcomes and objectives, the various elements of the digital twin were incorporated into the overall enterprise architecture. This has proved to be an important part of the process to ensure alignment to the wider capabilities and importantly ensure the right technology is in place. The enterprise architecture continues to evolve to include information objects below the application layer, again building on the product based approach, so that the enterprise architecture can be utilised in the wider Anglian Water Alliances. In total the development of the strategy, business case and capabilities has taken 6 months, however it is important to note that this builds on the earlier proof of concept and ideation during the initial mobilisation of SPA. Given the approach a key next step is to work with Anglian Water to explore accelerated deployment of SPA digital twins on other major schemes, to put to test the product approach and maximise the investment made. We have learnt from the early developments on SPA that articulating a whole life view of value is vital and that focusing on capital / operational stages is equally important, so that appropriate budget holders can see the value being delivered. We have also learnt the importance of having a bold vision which must be matched by clear definition of the first few steps, showing a long term roadmap for achieving an enterprise digital twin. What is certainly clear is that we still have a lot to learn, however by following good architectural best practice and placing people and our environment at the heart of digital twin, we have put in place a good foundation from which to build. If you would like to know more, please get in touch through the DT Hub.

We are inviting you to complete our 2021 Smart Infrastructure Index© Survey with a special focus on digital twins. Twelve months on from the release of our first version of the Index survey for asset owners and operators, we are broadening our reach so that our digital twin question set is relevant to all DT Hub members. The Smart Infrastructure Index is a user-friendly way for DT Hub members to measure digital maturity and benchmark progress against peers.  Understand your digital maturity using a proven methodology  Identify capability gaps and priorities in your digital roadmap  Benchmark performance against peers and learn from the best  Start your Smart Infrastructure Index Survey here. We will process entries until mid-November 2021. Once you have completed the survey, don’t forget to fill in your name and organisation to receive your personalised report including a score and targeted recommendations. These will be sent straight to your DT Hub email inbox. In the weeks that follow, we will analyse all responses and send everyone a full industry report. Benefits of completing the survey For individuals: Instant, personalised results sent direct to your email inbox; see how your score compares to the sector average and best practice; view your tailored strategic recommendations; identify which archetype you are (optimist, traditionalist etc.) For organisations: Measure your digital maturity; identify what to prioritise; benchmark against the best Why should industry complete the Index? Index insights highlight common challenges, recommendations provide solutions to these challenges; benchmarking helps identify best practice, case studies can be shared; industry-wide capability gaps addressed as a priority Digital twin focus The DT Hub and Mott MacDonald Digital Ventures have worked together to bolster the standard Index of seven categories, with an additional question set for those working on the delivery of a major project or programme, and a question set that revolves around digital twins. The digital twin questions are designed specifically for members of the DT Hub and ask about: Digital twins Customers Commercial Digital transformation Asset management Asset delivery Asset performance Continuous improvement When members complete the survey, the Index will generate a personalised report including a score and targeted recommendations, sent straight to their DT Hub email inbox after completion. Read the 2020 Index Survey Summary and watch the Interview

About the event Creating the products that will lead the delivery of true net zero will require transformational change in the product engineering, assurance, and production process. Innovative integration across the entire product, service and infrastructure enterprise will be essential to deliver the ambitious levels of performance that customers, society, and the environmental imperative demand. Digitalisation offers an opportunity to unlock transformation of our industrial system and is a core enabler to ensuring that the UK plays a dominant role in the definition of future mobility solutions. Novel information and data management systems will facilitate the ability to integrate the product & service enterprise across the entire value chain - essential if technology is to be exploited effectively. Digitalisation offers the potential to “democratise excellence” across the entire supply base and across our broad national industrial footprint. In this session, led by experts from the Institute of Digital Engineering, we look at one of today’s top technology trends, Digital Twins, and how it’s changing the way businesses operate, the customer experience, and its contribution to cleaner, more efficient, and safer products and services. But what is exactly is a digital twin and how can it add value? Is this the key to sustainability and future economic success, or is it just the new toy on the market? Speakers for this event include: Mark Enzer OBE, Head of National Digital Twin programme (CDBB), Chief Technical Officer at Mott MacDonald Jose Garcia-Urruchi, Head of Digital Engineering Capability - Jaguar Land Rover Peter Van Manen, Principal Consultant - Frazer-Nash Consultancy Louise Krug, Technical Lead – BT Bradley Yorke-Biggs, CEO & Professor of Practice – Institute of Digital Engineering IDE UK Register for this free webinar at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/road-to-cop26-digitalisation-tickets-168562441801

Creating Digital Twins can be like sailing in uncharted waters, so how do you handle it when unforeseen challenges rock the boat? Can you even predict what kinds of things will disrupt your journey? We’ve noticed in various conversations on the DT Hub that no matter what sort of Digital Twin you’re trying to set up or why, there is an incredibly wide range of potential disruptions. From technical to cultural, from resources to supply chains, almost every avenue is susceptible to producing a challenge somewhere. Many examples that we’ve already seen have only become apparent once the people developing Digital Twins are up against them in real time, so that’s why the DT Hub has launched this new activity, Defining Our Digital Twin Challenges! We would like to know about the challenges you’ve encountered on your DT journey in order to make the overall roadmap easier to follow. The information you provide will help us to ultimately define our common challenges so we can start to solve them together. This series of thematic workshops, run by the DT Hub, will progress the conversation around the Digital Twin Journey, and surface some of the challenges that organisations are still facing whilst embarking on their journey. Each Challenge will culminate in an Activity, where we will present the specific challenge areas that you have brought to us to a select group in order to provide constructive feedback. The outcome of these workshops will be to share insights from inside and outside the community for the benefit of the community as a whole. You can use this activity Bring out your Digital Twin Challenges to explore your challenges with others, and our crowd facilitator, Joao, will be interacting with you to make sure you get the best experience possible. Joao is a former market researcher, court interpreter and has been a brilliant member of our team for years as a 100%Open Associate. We look forward to your invaluable contributions, and in turn the exponential development of the DT journey.

Who are we Game engine technology is at the heart of heralding a new age of content creation, immersive storytelling, design driven development, and business process innovation. These tools are now being utilised to work along side your data to create a visual front end digital twin, to allow for a more immersive, controllable and completely customisable digital twin application. Unreal Engine is a game engine created by Epic Games to allow developers to create their own games and immersive 3D worlds. This technology has seen fast adoption across a number of industries including Manufacturing, Automotive, Film and Media, Architecture, Engineering and Construction [AEC]. As the need to collaborate virtually with stakeholders and end-users has increased, and the need to customise unique applications and visualise our 3D models and data becomes more important, it is where the role of game engines in AEC is making a mark. Unreal Engine is a free, open source tool for creators to develop their custom real-time experiences. Unreal Engine and Digital twins Data alone can often be confusing and hard to understand, its not until the data is contextualised that you are able to better understand the data and turn it into information that can benefit the project. This is where the Unreal Engine is here to support the Digital Twin communities, with its unique ability to aggregate data sources, from 3D geometry, BIM metadata, 4D construction data and IoT Hubs. Users are able to have a centralised location to contextualise the data in its native environment and allow users to build custom applications around it. Getting involved in our future roadmap... As we see more and more companies developing large scale digital twin applications, here at Epic Games we want to make sure we are providing everything you need to make your own digital twin applications with Unreal Engine. To allow you to integrate your existing data, geometry and IoT hub information into a visual platform for sharing with the world. We'd love to hear from you about how you see the world of digital twins evolving. Going forward, which tools and features will you find most valuable in creating digital twins? What kinds of training and support would you like to have access to from Epic Games on this? To help them serve you better, please take their survey about the current state of digital twins, and share your ideas or what you would like to see happen. Take the survey here Results of this survey will be shared to the community for wider awareness. In the mean time you can check out a recent article we shared with one of our customers in China:

Delivering the UK National Digital Twin programme - progress and what next? by @Simon Evans, Digital Energy Leader, Arup and Chair of the Gemini Call, National Digital Twin Programme. Book tickets here: Achieving Asset Availability: Reliability, Maintainability, and Supportability | Live Online | SEM7336 (imeche.org)

Speaker: Mark Enzer, CDBB and CTO, Mott MacDonald The National Digital Twin (NDT) is a huge idea using “data for the public good” at its heart. The NDT promises enormous value for the people of the UK, both in the delivery of new assets and in the performance of our existing infrastructure. The fundamental premise behind the NDT is: Better data + Better Analysis => Better Decisions => Better outcomes for people and society – which is the essential promise of the Information Age. The NDT is not envisaged as one massive model of everything, but as an ecosystem of connected digital twins. Connecting digital twins requires interoperability to enable secure resilient data to be shared across organisational and sector boundaries. However, interoperability requires a level of data quality and consistency that “the market” cannot achieve on its own; it requires government-level leadership to create the right conditions for “the market” to adopt and deliver to the standards required and in doing so develop and thrive. This presentation will: introduce the National Digital Twin, explain what it is and why we need it, and outline what is being done to deliver it. Register at the link below for Mark's presentation and others: Webinar: DMSG & DAMA collaboration event: Making data good for society | BCS

Following the successful webinar / online discussion last month, I have now posted an article version of "Towards a Web of Digital Twins". The document summarises the research conducted by the team at the ODI (Open Data Institute) on what it means to connect digital twins and how the concept can scale to a "web" of twins across domains, sectors, and geography. The synthesis of our research is also available as an annotated deck, released under an open licence.