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Hi Everyone, I am looking for an 6 month-1 year internship on Digital twins, Regards, AJ +97433193766 Whatsapp

Hi all, Please have a look at this presentation and share you thoughts! https://digital-twins.kumu.io/describing-a-digital-twin

I came across an EU funded project "xr4all" which provides a development environment(among other things) for XR projects. The details are here: https://dev.xr4all.eu Will it be possible for the NDT programme to provide similar platform for DT community in the UK? It will help in fostering rapid collaboration and development of the DT ecosystem. Thanks and kind regards, Ajeeth

Today we are delighted to publish the Approach to Develop the Foundation Data Model for the Information Management Framework. This document follows up on the November publication of the Survey of Top-level Ontologies (TLO) and the Survey of Industry Data Models (IDM) and Reference Data Libraries (RDL). (You can find these publications under Gemini Commons/IMF technical Documents.) The pragmatic and technical requirements for the Foundation Data Model have now been developed and consideration has been given as to whether any existing Top-Level Ontologies could be used as a suitable start-point. The Approach takes you through these requirements, the assessment of the surveyed TLOs to the final decision. There are four Top-Level Ontologies that meet all the technical requirements: BORO, IDEAS, HQDM and ISO 15926-2. They are distinct from the other Top-Level Ontologies in being 4-dimensionalist. These allow us to see individual objects as four-dimensional, having both spatial and temporal parts. You can find the Approach to Develop the FDM for the IMF here

In November 2020 the National Digital Twin programme programme published the Survey of Top-level Ontologies (TLO) and the Survey of Industry Data Models (IDM) and Reference Data Libraries (RDL). You can find these publications under Gemini Commons/IMF technical Documents. The technical part of the proposed pathway to an Information Management Framework comprises of three main elements: A Foundation Data Model A Reference Data Library, and An Integration Architecture which define a common structure and meaning for the consistent and integrated sharing of information. The pragmatic and technical requirements for the Foundation Data Model have now been developed and consideration has been given as to whether any existing Top-Level Ontologies could be used as a suitable start-point. There are four Top-Level Ontologies that meet all the technical requirements: BORO, IDEAS, HQDM and ISO 15926-2. They are distinct from the other Top-Level Ontologies in being 4-dimensionalist. These allow us to see individual objects as four-dimensional, having both spatial and temporal parts. We are therefore proceeding to develop the Foundation Data Model seed from these 4-dimensionalist Top-Level Ontologies. The Approach to Develop the Foundation Data Model for the Information Management Framework has been published here alongside the Surveys in the Gemini Commons/ IMF Technical documents. If you would like to ask any questions about the publication, the methods taken and choices made, head over to the IMF Community Network where the programme team are available to respond.

(8) Data wrangling - importing 300+ datasets a quarter - YouTube Is this making the case for bread and butter digital transformation?

Acronym Full Name Initial release Self Description BFO Basic Formal Ontology 2002 The Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) framework developed by Barry Smith and his associates consists of a series of sub-ontologies at different levels of granularity. The ontologies are divided into two varieties: relating to continuant entities such as three-dimensional enduring objects, and occurrent entities (primarily) processes conceived as unfolding in successive phases through time. BFO thus incorporates both three-dimensionalist and four-dimensionalist perspectives on reality within a single framework. Interrelations are defined between the two types of ontologies in a way which gives BFO the facility to deal with both static/spatial and dynamic/temporal features of reality. A continuant domain ontology descending from BFO can be conceived as an inventory of entities existing at a time. Each occurrent ontology can be conceived as an inventory of processes unfolding through a given interval of time. Both BFO itself and each of its extension sub-ontologies can be conceived as a window on a certain portion of reality at a given level of granularity. BORO Business Objects Reference Ontology late 1980s Business Objects Reference Ontology is an upper ontology designed for developing ontological or semantic models for large complex operational applications that consists of a top ontology as well as a process for constructing the ontology. It is built upon a series of clear metaphysical choices to provide a solid (metaphysical) foundation. A key choice was for an extensional (and hence, four-dimensional) ontology which provides it a simple criteria of identity. Elements of it have appeared in a number of standards. For example, the ISO standard, ISO 15926 – Industrial automation systems and integration – was heavily influenced by an early version. The IDEAS (International Defence Enterprise Architecture Specification for exchange) standard is based upon BORO, which in turn was used to develop DODAF 2.0. CIDOC CIDOC object-oriented Conceptual Reference Model 1999 Although "CIDOC object-oriented Conceptual Reference Model" (CRM) is a domain ontology, specialised to the purposes of representing cultural heritage, a subset called CRM Core is a generic upper ontology, including:[15][16] - Space-Time – title/identifier, place, era/period, time-span, relationship to persistent items - Events – title/identifier, beginning/ending of existence, participants (people, either individually or in groups), creation/modification of things (physical or conceptional), relationship to persistent items - Material Things – title/identifier, place, the information object the material thing carries, part-of relationships, relationship to persistent items - Immaterial Things – title/identifier, information objects (propositional or symbolic), conceptional things, part-of relationships CIM Common Information Model 1999 The Common Information Model (CIM) is an open standard that defines how managed elements in an IT environment are represented as a common set of objects and relationships between them. COSMO COmmon Semantic MOdel not known - pre-2006 Developed with the goal of developing a foundation ontology that can serve to enable broad general Semantic Interoperability. Cyc Cyc 1984 Artificial intelligence project that aims to assemble a comprehensive ontology and knowledge base that spans the basic concepts and rules about how the world works. DC The Dublin Core ontology 1995 This is a light weight RDFS vocabulary for describing generic metadata. DOLCE Descriptive Ontology for Linguistic and Cognitive Engineering 2002 Is oriented toward capturing the ontological categories underlying natural language and human common sense. EMMO The European Materials Modelling Ontology (EMMO) 2019 (?) The EMMO top level is the group of fundamental axioms that constitute the philosophical foundation of the EMMO. Adopting a physicalistic/nominalistic perspective, the EMMO defines real world objects as 4D objects that are always extended in space and time (i.e. real world objects cannot be spaceless nor timeless). For this reason abstract objects, i.e. objects that does not extend in space and time, are forbidden in the EMMO. It has been instigated by materials science and provides the connection between the physical world, the experimental world (materials characterisation) and the simulation world (materials modelling). FIBO Financial Industry Business Ontology 2010 (?) The Financial Industry Business Ontology (FIBO) defines the sets of things that are of interest in financial business applications and the ways that those things can relate to one another. FrameNet FrameNet 2000 (?) The FrameNet project is building a lexical database of English that is both human- and machine-readable, based on annotating examples of how words are used in actual texts. GFO General Formal Ontology 2006 Realistic ontology integrating processes and objects. It attempts to include many aspects of recent philosophy, which is reflected both in its taxonomic tree and its axiomatizations. gist gist 2007 It is designed to have the maximum coverage of typical business ontology concepts with the fewest number of primitives and the least amount of ambiguity. HQDM High Quality Data Models 2011 The High Quality Data Models (HQDM) Framework is a 4 dimensionalist top level ontology with extensional identity criteria that aims to support large scale data integration. As such it aims to ensure there is consistency among data created using the framework. The HQDM Framework is based on work developing and using ISO 15926 and lessons learnt from BORO, which influenced ISO 19526. IDEAS International Defence Enterprise Architecture Specification 2006 The upper ontology developed by the IDEAS Group is higher-order, extensional and 4D. It was developed using the BORO Method. The IDEAS ontology is not intended for reasoning and inference purposes; its purpose is to be a precise model of business. IEC 62541 IEC 62541 - OPC Unified Architecture 2006 OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA) is a machine to machine communication protocol for industrial automation developed by the OPC Foundation. IEC 63088 Smart manufacturing - Reference architecture model industry 4.0 (RAMI4.0) 2017 IEC PAS 63088:2017(E) describes a reference architecture model in the form of a cubic layer model, which shows technical objects (assets) in the form of layers, and allows them to be described, tracked over their entire lifetime (or “vita”) and assigned to technical and/or organizational hierarchies. It also describes the structure and function of Industry 4.0 components as essential parts of the virtual representation of assets. ISO 12006-3 ISO 12006-3:2007 - Building construction — Organization of information about construction works — Part 3: Framework for object-oriented information 2007 ISO 12006-3:2007 specifies a language-independent information model which can be used for the development of dictionaries used to store or provide information about construction works. It enables classification systems, information models, object models and process models to be referenced from within a common framework. ISO 15926-2 Industrial automation systems and integration—Integration of life-cycle data for process plants including oil and gas production facilities 2003 The ISO 15926 is a standard for data integration, sharing, exchange, and hand-over between computer systems. KR Ontology KR Ontology 1999 The KR Ontology is defined in the book Knowledge Representation by John F. Sowa. Its categories have been derived from a synthesis of various sources, but the two major influences are the semiotics of Charles Sanders Peirce and the categories of existence of Alfred North Whitehead. The primitive categories are: Independent, Relative, or Mediating; Physical or Abstract; Continuant or Occurrent. MarineTLO Marine Top Level Ontology 2013 (?) Is a top level ontology, generic enough to provide consistent abstractions or specifications of concepts included in all data models or ontologies of marine data sources and provide the necessary properties to make this distributed knowledge base a coherent source of facts relating observational data with the respective spatiotemporal context and categorical (systematic) domain knowledge. MIMOSA CCOM MIMOSA CCOM (Machinery Information Management Open Systems Alliance - Common Conceptual Object Model) not known MIMOSA CCOM (Common Conceptual Object Model) serves as an information model for the exchange of asset information. Its core mission is to facilitate standards-based interoperability between systems: providing an XML model to allow systems to electronically exchange data. OWL-2 OWL-2 2004 The Web Ontology Language (OWL) is a family of knowledge representation languages for authoring ontologies. Ontologies are a formal way to describe taxonomies and classification networks, essentially defining the structure of knowledge for various domains: the nouns representing classes of objects and the verbs representing relations between the objects. PROTON PROTo ONtology 2005 (?) Is designed as a lightweight upper-level ontology for use in Knowledge Management and Semantic Web applications. Schema.org Schema.org 2011 Schema.org is a collaborative, community activity with a mission to create, maintain, and promote schemas for structured data on the Internet, on web pages, in email messages, and beyond. SENSUS The SENSUS ontology 2001 We have constructed SENSUS, a 70,000-node terminology taxonomy, as a framework into which additional knowledge can be placed. SENSUS is an extension and reorganization of WordNet SKOS Simple Knowledge Organization System 2009 SKOS is an area of work developing specifications and standards to support the use of knowledge organization systems (KOS) such as thesauri, classification schemes, subject heading systems and taxonomies within the framework of the Semantic Web. SUMO Suggested Upper Merged Ontology 2000 Is an upper ontology intended as a foundation ontology for a variety of computer information processing systems. TMRM The Topic Maps Reference Model late 1990s A topic map is a standard for the representation and interchange of knowledge, with an emphasis on the findability of information. UFO Unified Foundational Ontology 2005 Incorporates developments from GFO, DOLCE and the Ontology of Universals underlying OntoClean in a single coherent foundational ontology. UMBEL Upper Mapping and Binding Exchange Layer 2008 Is a logically organized knowledge graph of 34,000 concepts and entity types that can be used in information science for relating information from disparate sources to one another. Since UMBEL is an open-source extract of the OpenCyc knowledge base, it can also take advantage of the reasoning capabilities within Cyc. UML Unified Modeling Language (UML) 1994 The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a general-purpose, developmental, modeling language in the field of software engineering that is intended to provide a standard way to visualize the design of a system. UMLS UMLS 1986 The Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) is a compendium of many controlled vocabularies in the biomedical sciences (created 1986).[1] It provides a mapping structure among these vocabularies and thus allows one to translate among the various terminology systems; it may also be viewed as a comprehensive thesaurus and ontology of biomedical concepts. UMLS further provides facilities for natural language processing. It is intended to be used mainly by developers of systems in medical informatics. WordNet WordNet 1985 WordNet® is a large lexical database of English. Nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are grouped into sets of cognitive synonyms (synsets), each expressing a distinct concept. YAMATO Yet Another More Advanced Top Ontology 1999 YAMATO: Yet Another More Advanced Top-level Ontology which has been developed intended to cover three features in Quality description, Representation and Process/Event, respectively, in a better way than existing ontologies. It has been extensively used for developing other, more applied, ontologies.

Hello all I took a question after the Gemini call this morning. Apologies for my naivety in not knowing the answer myself, but where are people in the TLO? Miranda

The National Digital Twin Programme has initiated work to create a thin slice of the IMF for the Construction Innovation Hub, to support the development of CIH’s Platform Ecosystem. This thin slice of the IMF is called the FDM Seed. Fig 1.General classification of the TLO – taken from A Survey of Top-level Ontologies The first steps of the FDM Seed project is to survey the landscape, to investigate what ontologies and Data models are already in use out there; what they can do, their limitations, and assess what tools may be useful as a starting point for the FDM and the RDL. The NDTp Commons Technical team have undertaken the landscape survey and have now published two reports: • A survey of Top-level Ontologies (TLOs) • A Survey of Industry Data Models (IDMs) and Reference Data Libraries (RDLs) The final survey of top-level ontologies is, we think, the first of its kind. To take part in the discussion on the surveys and their implications, we invite you to become a member of the Digital Twin Hub and join the Digital Twin Hub IMF Community Network What next? The Programme is now in the process of gathering recommendations for which TLOs to use to start the work on the FDM Seed thin slice. We anticipate basing the FDM development on one of the TLOs, bringing in elements from others, based on the survey & analysis.

Enterprises creating digital twins have a need to understand the benefits their digital twins bring to their own operation but also the benefits which accrue to their customers, supply chain, local community, industry network and relevant government bodies.  An understanding and harnessing of these benefits has the potential to drive not only individual business cases but also impact regional development spend, regulatory price controls and national policy.  In response to this need, CDBB commissioned a piece of work to create a logic model to find a consistent way to describe the benefits of connecting digital twins.  That model has the potential to deliver both the forward view to guide investment decisions in connecting digital twins and also a retrospective assessment of the benefits achieved by connecting them. Read the CDBB blog, What is the point of a National Digital Twin?  to find out more about the logic model The NIC’s Data for the Public Good report and other publications have described benefits to the economy and enterprises from the sharing of data in a secure and resilient way.  As such, the National Digital Twin programme was set up to create the Information Management Framework to enable that secure resilient data sharing in the built environment and beyond.    The vision for the National Digital Twin is not a central repository of all data rather it is a ] principles principles based means to connect data or individual twins to create both public good and value.   The challenge is to understand where the greatest value can be created from the connection of individual twins.   The NDTp will be running a webinar on 20th October where we will discuss the challenges of valuing data assets, the good they deliver, and how connected digital twins may change the way we do business.   To receive the link to the webinar, register via Eventbrite; https://ndtbenefits.eventbrite.co.uk The Webinar will be held, 11:00 – 12:00, Tuesday 20th October, via Zoom Webinar Hosting and chairing the webinar will be the National Digital Twin programme’s Commons Stream Lead, Miranda Sharp. Joining Miranda will be a panel of experts; Leigh Dodds – ODI ; Leigh is Director of Delivery at the Open Data Institute. You can read about the ODI’s work on data institutions here: https://theodi.org/article/designing-sustainable-data-institutions-paper/   Herman Heyns – ANMUT Herman is CEO at Anmut and Member of Tech UKs Digital Twins Working Group. Anmut is a consultancy that enables organisations to manage data like any other asset. You can read more about how ANMUT value data on their website: https://anmut.co.uk/data-valuation-what-is-your-data-worth/ and https://anmut.co.uk/why-you-should-be-treating-your-data-as-an-asset/ Peter Vale – Thames Tideway; Peter has worked with a consortium at Tideway which has researched the benefits of digital transformation. We hope to see you there.

Strategic planning for life after Covid-19 brings an unprecedented opportunity to change the way we view and manage our infrastructure. Mark Enzer, from CDBB makes the case for putting people first. The current pandemic has been a powerful but unforgiving teacher. It has demonstrated the importance of data and the power of digital models to derive insights from those data, to help us model outcomes, to guide the pulling of the levers to control “R” and to help us make better more-informed decisions. Covid’s disruptive impact across all sectors and societies has also revealed the interconnections and interdependencies between our economic and social infrastructure, highlighting the importance of creating resilient, sustainable and secure infrastructure systems upon which essential services depend. So why change our view of infrastructure? We have created an amazing, complex machine on which we wholly depend. Without it, our lives would be immeasurably worse. Society would not survive. That machine is infrastructure – our built environment. However, we don’t appreciate the relationship between infrastructure and our wellbeing. Therefore, we don’t set objectives in terms of outcomes for people and society. And although we understand each part of the built environment, we do not manage it as a whole. Therefore, we don’t know how to address its systemic vulnerabilities or make it work better. If we envision, plan and manage infrastructure differently, we can make it what it should truly be: A platform for human flourishing. Putting people first The Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) and the Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) have recently published ‘Flourishing systems’, which makes the case for a people-focused systems-based vision for infrastructure. As we consider priorities following the Covid-19 outbreak, we have an opportunity to plot a new course that recognises the fundamental role of infrastructure in the social, economic and environmental outcomes that determine the quality of people’s lives. To do this, we must see infrastructure as a complex, interconnected system of systems that must deliver continuous service to society. Infrastructure is so much more than just a series of construction projects. Adopting a system-of-systems approach makes it possible to address the great systemic challenges such as achieving net-zero carbon emissions, improving resilience and preparing for a circular economy. It also unlocks the potential of digital transformation across the built environment. How digitalisation delivers value With the ongoing digital transformation of the infrastructure industry, we have the opportunity to deliver huge benefit for people – for whom infrastructure ultimately exists. Digital transformation encompasses how we function as organisations, how we deliver new assets and how we operate, maintain and use existing assets. Bringing digital and physical assets together creates cyber-physical systems – smart infrastructure. Effectively, this is applying the fourth industrial revolution to infrastructure. Making better use of asset and systems data is central to this vision because better analysis of better data enables better decisions, producing better outcomes, which is the essential promise of the information age. As part of this, we must recognise digital assets, such as data, information, algorithms and digital twins, as genuine ‘assets’, which have value and must be managed effectively and securely. In time, as data and digital assets become valued, data itself will be seen as infrastructure. We are now at a point where the vision for effective digitalisation of the whole of the built environment is within reach. Enabling secure, resilient data sharing Managing complex interconnected systems requires the appropriate tools. CDBB’s National Digital Twin programme sets out a structured approach for effective information management across the system as a whole. This approach is informed by ‘The Gemini Principles’ and is driven by the NIC’s ‘data for the public good’ report. The recent paper ‘Pathway Towards an Information Management Framework’ suggests an approach for the development of an Information Management Framework to enable secure, resilient data sharing across the built environment. It is this that will enable data connections between digital twins, which is at the heart of the concept of the ‘National Digital Twin’ – an ecosystem of connected digital twins. All systems go Taking a systems-based approach to our infrastructure will improve our ability to deliver desirable outcomes for people and society – around accessibility, inclusion, empowerment, resilience and wellbeing – not just for now but for generations to come. It will also better equip us to address the urgent global systemic challenge of climate change. It’s time to see infrastructure differently – as a system of systems that provides a platform for human flourishing. flourishing-systems_final_digital.pdf

The National Digital Twin programme is a national programme, built on consensus. As the open consultation on our proposed approach to an IMF draws to a close, Miranda Sharp IMF Engagement Lead at CDBB shares how the DT Hub members can continue to shape its development. We believe the IMF is the key to enabling secure, resilient data sharing between organisations and sectors in the built environment and want to work with you to devel0p it. Greater use of digital technologies and information in the built environment increases capacity, efficiency, reliability and resilience. This in turn enables existing assets to enhance service provision for people, as well as improving efficiency in design and delivery of new assets through a better understanding of whole-life performance of those assets already in place. We know that by working collaboratively with members of the DT Hub, who share in that vision, we will end up with a better end result. My role within the programme is to help make your voice heard, and to open conversations where you can ask the challenging questions we need to find answers to. During the next phase of the consultation we will be running in-depth interviews with practiti0ners to understand the challenges the proposed approach faces, and how these could be resolved. We want to know if the approach be top down or bottom up – or both? We want to hear your thoughts, ideas and reflections, both positive and negative. In working collaboratively to establish the IMF we will enable a National Digital Twin that is implementable and usable, in order to enable society to tackle the urgent and cross-silo challenges of achieving carbon reduction targets and effectively coordinate disaster response. We will also be able to derive the greater benefits of securely connecting our data assets. This process will require debate and deliberation along the way and invite many questions to which answers might not be immediate or clear. That is because our vision to create a digital built Britain is not complete or static; it is an evolving development emerging from multiple voices and viewpoints across a wide range of organisations – big and small, public and private, clients and contractors. Our webinar marking the publication of the report attracted a range of questions and this is precisely what is needed to interrogate the approach, to challenge its strengths, identify weaknesses and test resilience. Some people are keen to know if CDBB has started to build a prototype to demonstrate the framework but, as the pathway document explains, we must first build consensus on the prosed approach to an IMF – one cannot happen without the other. Work is underway to create a thin slice of an IMF to start to establish and test a common language and apply this early framework to a platform being developed by the Construction Innovation Hub (CIH) and put it under scrutiny. But first we need to map out the approach that will enable a demonstrable piece of the framework. The top-level academic contribution to the developing framework will also be studied closely to ensure it is robust and resilient, able to withstand change, to grow and expand. Challenge will simultaneously come from the bottom-up when organisations will input to test competency. The IMF is designed to make connections between digital twins and provide operators and decision-makers with resilient and secure verified data sharing to enable a wider view of the implications of decisions and insights that invite timely interventions and potentially better outcomes. The decision-making and the form it takes is the responsibility of organisations and businesses themselves and beyond the scope of this report – but we do want to hear your views. With that in mind we have created two new communities here on the DT Hub – Architects and Developers – dedicated to the discussion around the development of the IMF and the operational implementation of the Framework within organisations. Our Architects Community has been established for those involved in real-world application and implementation of information management. The group will test and calibrate the NDT programme’s approach to the IMF and provide a forum for discussion on challenges, opportunities and the practicalities for implementation. Our Developer Community, comprising information management, data science and integration specialists, is bringing scrutiny to the IMF approach and has been established to provide a rich discussion area for the core concepts, tenets and philosophies of the Framework and its constituent parts. If you have ideas, questions or observations about the Pathway document then please engage with us via these two new communities. Achieving alignment, interoperability, protocols, governance and standards to allow individual businesses to flourish while serving the interests of society needs engagement and contribution from as many of you as possible. It is time to collaborate at scale. I look forward to working together to shape an IMF to secure the sharing of data, enabling insight to drive informed decision-making is an essential process, unlocking value and delivering better outcomes for the greater good.

The Pathway towards an Information Management Framework (IMF) was published by CDBB at the end of May and contains the collaborative vision of over 70 contributors that came together to build a consensus on how we can build a national digital twin from a nation of digital twins. In response to the National Infrastructure Commission’s report, ‘Data for the Public Good’, the Pathway towards an IMF lays out the ambitious goal of creating a framework where organisations can share data in a robust, resilient and secure way. This will enable better decisions, strengthen the economy and allow for human flourishing. The IMF pathway has at its core, the Gemini Principles, the guiding principles ensuring the framework has purpose, creates trust and is adaptable and flexible enough to work for organisations now and in the future. Taking the selfish approach…. for the greater good The IMF Pathway details the approach to establishing a common language allowing digital twins to talk to each other. This can start within organisations linking up disparate digital twins and breaking up silos to give better corporate control and aid decision making. This then allows the national digital twin to connect those joined up corporate twins by sharing key data to and from other related organisations and sectors to enable deeper insight and benefit to the organisations and the nation for the greater good. In engaging with the IMF Pathway, an organisation has the primary benefit of first recognising the value of their corporate wide data, and secondly, fully preparing themselves to take advantage of, and contribute to, the value and benefit of nationally shared data. The Pathway proposes three building blocks to form the framework:    A Foundation Data Model (FDM): A consistent, clear ontology for the digital twin ecosystem: a structure for sharing and validating data    A Reference Data Library (RDL): Common references, or vocabulary that enable the secure sharing of high-quality data: the common language for describing digital twins    An Integration Architecture (IA): Design and build of the digital systems that manage the connected digital twins: the glue that can link twins together.  The IMF will bring together the standards and data exchange protocols that will allow this ecosystem to create a National Digital Twin from a nation of digital twins. Security and protection of personal data is essential to connecting twins in the right way and is integral in the development of the IMF pathway, as illustrated by this diagram from the IMF Pathway and the accompanying Approach Summary. Following the release of the IMF Pathway, CDBB hosted a webinar and was delighted by the response of the participants and the enthusiasm for the IMF. The recording of the webinar is available on the DT Hub to watch at any time. Continuation of collaboration and consultation The Pathway continues to be a collaborative process and we now look to you to help ensure the widest possible feedback on the document to make sure it meets the needs of infrastructure asset owners, local authorities, architects, engineering consultants, construction companies, software developers, AI companies, big tech and more. The consultation is open until the end of August and we would really value your input.

The Centre for Digital Built Britain’s National Digital Twin programme has launched an open consultation seeking feedback on the proposed approach to the development of an Information Management Framework for the built environment. A new report, The Pathway Towards an Information Management Framework: A Commons for a Digital Built Britain, sets out the technical approach for the development of an Information Management Framework (IMF) to enable secure, resilient data sharing across the built environment. The publication of the report by CDBB, in partnership with the Construction Innovation Hub, is a critical milestone towards a National Digital Twin. On the publication, Mark Enzer, Head of the National Digital Twin Programme said, “I would really like to thank everyone who has come together over the past 18 months to help develop this proposed pathway towards an Information Management Framework. It represents a huge amount of work and exemplifies the collaborative approach that will be needed as we seek to enable an ecosystem of connected digital twins – the National Digital Twin. “The challenge is sizeable, but the promise is huge: better outcomes coming from better decisions based on better connected data. And, working with industry, academia and Government all pulling together we can deliver it. So, I’d urge you to join with us on this journey and help us build consensus on the way forward.” The way that digital twins are connected is important to ensuring security and improving the resilience of assets and systems. The goal of the IMF is to establish a common language by which digital twins of the built and natural environment can communicate securely and effectively to support improved decision taking by those operating, maintaining and using built assets and the services they provide to society. Its development by CDBB was recommended by the National Infrastructure Commission in 2017’s Data for the Public Good report and HM Government’s Construction Sector Deal. As industry leaders, DT Hub members involved in planning, creating and managing the built environment are invited to provide feedback on the report here. The consultation questions are: It has been proposed that the Information Management Framework (IMF) should essentially consist of a Foundation Data Model (FDM), a Reference Data Library (RDL) and an Integration Architecture (IA). Do you agree with this overall framework? In your view, are there any key elements missing from this framework? In your view, is the proposed approach to the IMF consistent with the Gemini Principles? Are there any inconsistencies that should be addressed? Section 3.4 lists the models and protocols that would form part of the IMF. Is there anything that you would like to suggest to improve this list? Section 3.5 describes key concepts of a Foundation Data Model. Is there anything that you would like to suggest to improve this description? Section 3.6 describes key concepts of the Reference Data Library. Is there anything that you would like to suggest to improve this description? Section 3.7 describes key concepts of an Integration Architecture. Is there anything that you would like to suggest to improve this description? Section 4 proposes a pathway for developing the IMF. Do you agree with the proposed overall approach? In your view, are there any key tasks missing from this pathway? Would you suggest any improvements to the order in which the tasks are undertaken to develop the IMF? What do you see as the barriers to connecting digital twins within organisations and between different organisations/sectors? How can these barriers be overcome? In your experience what are the reasons why organisations invest in the creation of digital twins? Why would they invest in connecting digital twins? Do you have any other comments on the proposed approach to developing the information management framework? What opportunities do you see arising in your business from being able to connect Digital Twins and share and integrate data across them? The consultation on the IMF is open until 31 August and responses can be submitted here. Read a summary of the report here. the_pathway_towards_an_imf.pdf

The National Digital Twin Programme hosted a webinar on Monday 8th June 2020 to discuss and answer questions about the recently published Pathway towards an Information Management Framework. We were delighted to receive many questions during the webinar, and hope that those the panel were able to answer helped deepen understanding and expand interest in the Information Management Framework and the National Digital Twin Programme. We have added those, and the questions we couldn't get to in the available time, as topics within this forum, collated by subject. We would like to invite you to add your suggestions and to take part in the discussion on the DT Hub around the development of the National Digital Twin. We will use the discussions here to compliment the Open Consultation being run through the CDBB website on the IMF Pathway.. As Mark Enzer, the Head of the NDT Programme, said in the webinar, we need to continue to build consensus through collaboration, and progress through sharing and learning together. For those who missed the webinar, a video of the webinar is now available and attached below is a transcript of the the event. IMF Pathway Webinar 08062020 Transcript FINAL.pdf

https://time.graphics/line/306868 This timeline provides a high-level view of key events starting with the BIM Strategy Paper all the way to the creation of the National Digital Twin Programme. What events do you think were critical on this national journey to improve use of information over the whole life cycle of assets? What key events do we need to add to the picture? This timeline is referenced in the summary publication joined to the Pathway towards an information management framework: https://www.cdbb.cam.ac.uk/news/approach-delivery-national-digital-twin-united-kingdom

Last week, @Peter El Hajj posted this blog with The Rail Safety and Standards Board. In this insightful piece, Peter has taken the idea of the National Digital Twin and applied the concept to the rail sector; citing the Gemini Principles, the work under development within the commons, as well as the National Digital Twin Programme. https://www.rssb.co.uk/Insights-and-News/Blogs/The-Rail-Sector-and-the-National-Digital-Twin