On December 21st, EERA and its Joint Programmes on Nuclear Materials (JPNM), Advanced Materials and Processes for Energy Applications (JP AMPEA), and Digitalisation for Energy (DfE) held the third workshop of the series on Energy Materials for Innovation (EM4I). The third workshop was dedicated to “Approaches for the implementation of Digital Twins”. Speakers from energy research and industrial communities across Europe presented a wide range of overarching issues for successful integration of non-destructive examination & testing, materials, data-driven workflows, artificial intelligence, and digital twins. 

Experts taking part in the workshop came to the following conclusions: 

• Digital platforms successfully simulate the operation of non-destructive examination, even in harsh conditions, joining physics-based and data-driven modelling with non-destructive testing and AI capabilities 
• Techniques for the augmentation of data for the correct training of neural networks offer a valuable line of research and development 
• Decision-making capabilities can be integrated as well, providing valid assessments about predictive maintenance, precision, repeatability, and efficiency 
• New possibilities are offered by joining non-destructive testing and sensor intelligence (IoT devices) 
• Data-driven workflows integrating physics-based simulations and artificial intelligence too can simulate materials phenomena in a holistic way 

• Digital twins are being developed as a service provider in the industry, in which the ontologies defined are key for a valid reproduction of the real asset and the avoidance of malfunctions 
• Digital twins also rely on an accurate provision of input data from sensors and a proper sensor data quality control 
• The combination of physics-based and data-based digital twins are obtaining excellent results nowadays 

You can watch a recording of the workshop and speakers’ interventions at this link. 

The EM4I series continues with a fourth workshop to be held on 24-25 February, focusing on "sustainability assessment of materials and technologies for a clean energy transition". More information here.