By: Adam Beck, Co-Host | Digital Built Australia Podcast
Since 2019 there have been few moments when Australia’s emerging digital twin community has come together to engage in deep dialogue, and information sharing.
The 2019 Australian Digital Twin Symposium in Sydney hosted by the Smart Cities Council was considered the first. Then the two subsequent Digital Twin Week (online) events in 2020 and 2021 did an outstanding job in COVID times to bring together more than 2,000 policy makers, practitioners and academics combined.
From the latest research to training sessions, lessons learned to keynote speakers and informal virtual coffee networking sessions. The Digital Twin community has certainly had great opportunities (albeit much of it online) to engage among its peers over the past 4 years.
But 2023 will see the return of more face-to-face Digital Twin gatherings, with online sessions blended amongst them.
A craving for human interaction and engagement in-person seems to be in demand, however, to advance our marketplace we need to be doing more than just speaking at people from the stage. We need to pick up the challenges we identified in 2020 and 2021 and deliberate.
The Digital Twin Partnership (DTP) kicks off the year with its half-day forum on Thursday February 16th in Sydney, followed by launch events in Western Australia (March) and Tasmania (April).
The DTP‘s event schedule will continue to grow for the year with its Community Working Groups scheduled to gather in late January and set its calendar - with networking sessions, charrettes and boardroom table lunches all on the agenda.
In addition to these in person events – consumable on-demand audio content is also needed to help build awareness. One of the new podcasts to launch in 2022 was our Digital Built Australia (DBA) podcast which focuses specifically on how governments, academia, and the private sector are developing and implementing Digital Twin strategies. It also analyses the technical practitioner lens of Digital Twins as well as exploring leading policy initiatives.
These podcasts are delivered in a format that many of us have come to rely on - short and long form audio and video (coming in 2023), offering maximum flexibility to listen and watch when you want.
And there continues to be much to share and discuss.
Gathering, activating and using data to deliver benefits and create value is rapidly becoming the policy norm for our built and natural environment government departments and agencies in Australia, at all levels. From the Australia Infrastructure Plan to state-based infrastructure strategy’s, digital by default is the call.
Building on the success of foundational tools such as GIS and BIM, Digital Twins are as much a series of aggregated data capabilities as they are the digital model (or digital representation) many often focus on.
And it’s a series of capabilities that offers a range of benefits for our built and natural environment, and the services we offer the community.
Essentially, it’s all about activating data. And for this reason, the Digital Twin community must diversify its following, and the language it uses must be more inclusive, and less mysterious.
Data and the value it brings should benefit all.
2023 is the year for this discussion to lift off!