On the 25th and 26th of June, the IDEATION (InlanD watErs in the digitAl Twin OceaN) project officially kicked-off its activities. This aspiring new Horizon Europe project, funded by the European Climate, Infrastructure, and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), aims to provide the fundamentals for a digital twin, a real-time virtual representation of a physical system, for inland waters that will be integrated in the Digital Twin Ocean (DTO), creating a unified model of the hydrosphere.
IDEATION seeks to revolutionize the management and understanding of inland water systems, including rivers, lakes, reservoirs, wetlands, snow, and ice. By leveraging advanced technologies and cross-border cooperation, the project will provide a comprehensive roadmap, including the IDEATION reference architecture, defining standards and interfaces to ensure interoperability with the DTO.
A significant aspect of the project is stakeholder engagement through Water-oriented Living Labs (WoLLs) and Multi-Stakeholder Forums (MSF). These vehicles will facilitate collaboration and input from a diverse range of stakeholders, ensuring the project meets the needs and priorities of various European communities.
The IDEATION project, led by Cetaqua, brings together a consortium of eleven distinguished partners from across Europe, including leading research institutions, universities, and technological organizations, namely KWR, CERTH, Barcelona Supercomputing Center- Centro nacional de Supercomputacion, University of Cyprus (KIOS), Engineering ingegneria informatica, FIWARE Foundation, Water Europe, Fondazione Centro Euro-Mediterraneo sui Cambiamenti Climatici, Eidgenössische Forschungsanstalt and the University of Exeter. The kick-off meeting of the project, held in Barcelona, marked the beginning of this two-year journey.
Eloisa Vargiu, Project Manager at Cetaqua and Coordinator of the IDEATION project, expressed her excitement for the project’s launch, stating that ‘’IDEATION is the first European project aimed at integrating together inland, marine, and maritime waters into a unique digital twin. Its ambition to make inland waters and ocean knowledge readily available to citizens, entrepreneurs, scientists, and policy-makers is a challenge for us and will be our driver for writing a successful story.’’
In addition to the comprehensive roadmap and the reference architecture, IDEATION’s results will include OpenKIWAS, an open knowledge inventory for inland water systems and a set of recommendations for the future development of the digital twin. Lessons learnt during the project will be openly available. This project exemplifies the power of European collaboration in addressing critical environmental challenges and advancing technological innovation.
For more information, please follow the project’s social media channels, X/Twitter and LinkedIn.
