Principles to guide the development of the National Digital Twin relea

10 Dec 2018 03:10 PM

The Digital Framework Task Group launches its Gemini Principles - the foundational definitions and values to guide the development of a National Digital Twin.

Last week the Digital Framework Task Group (DFTG) launched the Gemini Principles, bringing together key voices from government, academia and industry to provide the sector with foundational definitions and values to guide the development of the National Digital Twin (NDT), an ecosystem of digital twins that are connected by securely shared data. It starts to address the key recommendations in the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC)’s 2017 report ‘Data for the public good’. 

The DFTG is reports into the Centre for Digital Built Britain, which seeks to understand how the construction and infrastructure sectors could use a digital approach to better design, build, operate, and integrate the built environment. Their vision is that a National Digital Twin will be a national resource for improving the performance, service and value delivered by the UK’s infrastructure. According to recent NIC reports, greater data sharing could release an additional £7 billion per year of benefits across the UK infrastructure sectors, equivalent to 25% of total infrastructure spend.

Mark Enzer, Chair of the DFTG, yesterday said:

“The Gemini Principles are effectively the conscience of the digital built environment. If we want the National Digital Twin and information management framework to be for the public good, forever, we need start with strong founding values.

“Appropriate coordination is required to achieve the huge potential benefits,” continues Enzer, “the Gemini Principles are intended to help facilitate alignment for stakeholders throughout the built environment, and I look forward to engaging widely on the next steps via the roadmap.”

techUK are members of the DFTG and the next output will be the roadmap, a prioritised plan that proposes the best route for delivering the information management framework, due to be published in early 2019.