EC offer Grants towards networked Local Digital Twins in the EU

Deadline: 21-Nov-2024

The European Commission (EC) is offering grants towards networked Local Digital Twins in the EU under the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL).

Objectives 

• Building on the Data Space for Smart Cities and Communities and the EU Local Digital Twin (LDT) Toolbox, both supported by the WP 2021-2022, and in synergy with the action “Developing CitiVerse”, the main objective of this action is to consolidate existing results and move towards an ecosystem of mature LDT-based infrastructures and services across the EU to help cities and communities achieve economies of scale to access and deploy data platform and LDT-based services.
• The action is divided in three objectives, each to be achieved through a separate work strand:
  • Objective 1: Technical inter-connection of existing LDTs: Developing and connecting existing urban data platforms and LDTs-based infrastructure from cities and communities that already have a LDT in place, to create national cloud-based and data-driven infrastructure offering Digital Twin advanced services. These advanced services will be offered to cities and communities of different size and levels of maturity, and become the basis for a EU “federation” of LDTs potentially linked through the SIMPL middleware platform. Reinforced interoperability through the aggregation of LDTs at a larger scale (cross sectors, cross cities, and cross borders) will help to scale up the EU common data sets and open-source solutions. It will also pave the way for less advanced cities and communities who wish to join the existing EU LDT ecosystem and national cloud-based infrastructure for urban data platforms and LDTs.
  • Objective 2: Creation of LDTs based on common needs: Developing open-source pilots for LDTs offering advanced services in new sectoral areas fundamental for cities, based on shared needs of cities and communities that already have a local data platform and/or a LDT and want to expand them with new real-life use case services and services. These new sectoral LDTs will address several key policy scenarios and urban management areas such as urban development, city mobility, climate change mitigation, optimising energy grids, mitigating air pollution, managing waste, and enhancing water resource management.
  • Objective 3: Adding new advanced AI-based tools to the LDTs toolbox: Complementing the EU LDT toolbox launched under WP2021-22 with additional more advanced AI-based and innovative open-source components underpinning novel use cases and emerging services, as highlighted by initiatives such as GenAI4EU e.g. generative AI models, virtual worlds, adaptable multi-sector considerations, advanced simulation and modelling approaches including bottom-up selforganised models. The AI services should be developed and tested within existing cities/communities and be transferable to other contexts.
• These objectives will be implemented through three work strands by a single project that will provide cascading funding to third parties through a single or several calls, as deemed appropriate.

Scope 

• The selected proposal will manage a community of projects selected by cascading funding mechanism. The work of these projects will be implemented through three main work strands:
  • Work strand 1: Federate existing urban data platform and LDTs-based infrastructure from cities and communities that already have a LDT in place to create national cloud-based infrastructure for smart Communities, by sharing available resources among individual initiatives. This will lay down the foundations for a trans-national EU LDT ecosystem and advanced services. When connecting LDTs, and their related data sets, projects should align with the smart cloud-to-edge middleware platform SIMPL to achieve interoperability and make use of horizontal initiatives available under the Digital Europe programme such as the Data Space for Smart Communities’ blueprint, the EU data cloud infrastructure, and the EU LDT toolbox. This can be done by forging alliances among cities and communities that have already established Local Digital Twins (LDTs) to consolidate their urban data platforms. By federating these existing infrastructures, they can establish the foundation for deploying a national cloud-based infrastructure customized for smart communities.
  • Work strand 2: Customising advanced Digital Twin services by developing and piloting solutions and sectoral LDTs based on common policy needs of cities and communities where interoperability and collaboration are to be enhanced. These pilots will address several policy scenarios (for key urban areas) such as urban development, city mobility, optimising energy grids, mitigating climate related problems, managing waste, and enhancing efficient water resource management.
    • The customised Digital Twin services should be tested in real-life conditions and expand the EU LDT ecosystem by making use of and expanding the EU LDT toolbox catalogue. The pilots should aim at including at the following activities:
      • Designing real life use cases for urban planners based on open and interoperable data sets across sectors. The use of these data sets should follow requirements of the Data Space for Smart Cities and Communities’ blueprint;
      • Building and deploying the pilot services on LDT platforms at city/community level with real use case data;
      • Provide and package the technical solutions supporting LDT-based customised services as open source and make it available to the EU LDT toolbox catalogue.
  • Work strand 3: Add new advanced AI-based components to the forthcoming EU LDT toolbox to address the needs of cities/communities:
    • Develop and deliver new AI-based services such as generative AI to create simulations, predictive models and forecast in a variety of sectors and use cases amongst which address the objectives of the New European Bauhaus, public services, and communities’ resilience.
    • Develop and deliver solutions for designing, optimising, and testing urban policies in dynamic complex environments with several interwoven sectors (e.g., traffic volume and pollution levels). AI classical optimization may be complemented with self-organised bottom-up solutions that will offer the necessary adaptability and robustness.
    • Develop and deliver new complex AI-based services related to citizens’ engagement, with or without the use of eXtended Reality technology to address aspects of the New European Bauhaus initiative and implement a sustainable, democratic, and citizen-centric CitiVerse.
    • Provide and package the AI-based components into an out-of-the-box solution so that they be reused and become part of the EU LDT toolbox catalogue

Funding Information

• The estimated available call budget is EUR 20 000 000.

Outcomes and Deliverables 

• Expected outcomes and deliverables of these three working strands are:
  • An EU ecosystem of LDTs sharing a common interoperability blueprint, addressing joint repositories, capacity building actions and cooperative approaches coordinated by the consortium managing the community of pilots.
  • An increase in the number of national infrastructures for urban data platforms and digital twins, anchoring advanced services compatible with the EU data cloud infrastructure, and reusing interoperable and open-source tools from the EU LDT toolbox.
  • New technical solutions of the EU LDT toolbox supporting LDT-based customised services in several policy scenarios and key urban management areas.
  • New AI-based solutions extending and supplementing the catalogue of the EU LDT toolbox for cities and communities.
  • Increasing and maturing the AI services offering in the public domain with new predictive modelling services and immersive solutions, paving the way to the CitiVerse.

KPIs to measure Outcomes and Deliverables 

• Number of LDTs using the Data Space for Smart Cities and Communities’ blueprint.
• Number of national and local platforms and LDTs with services compatible with SIMPL, with the EU data cloud infrastructure and reusing tools from the LDT toolbox.
• Number of new AI-based services in addition to those already in the LDT toolbox.
• Number of new predictive modelling services including immersive solutions for the citizens.

Targeted Stakeholders 

• Public and private entities such as (but not limited to): public administrations (national, regional, and local level), the EDIC “Networked Local Digital Twins towards the CitiVerse”, technology developers and suppliers, research and academia.
• It is important to note, due to the type of action chosen, that members of a potential consortium cannot be beneficiaries of the cascading fund.

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:
  • be legal entities (public or private bodies)
  • be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs))
    • non-EU countries (Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein):
      • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Digital Europe Programme.

For more information, visit EC.