Context:
Digital twin (DT) has emerged over the last decade as a key technology to improve and optimize various aspects of systems across construction, smart buildings, smart cities, and the broader built environment. The 1st TU/e-ETS workshop on DT for the built environment brings together researchers and practitioners from TU/e and ETS to advance DT research and practice across disciplines including software engineering, AI/ML, built environment and construction engineering, as well as HCI. With both universities pursuing campus-level DT initiatives, the workshop provides a collaborative forum to align activities, share insights, and identify common challenges, standards, and opportunities for interoperable, end-to-end DT solutions that span design, operation, and retrofit of built environments.

Motivation for organizing this workshop stems from concrete observations: DT is a prominent research topic at both TU/e and ETS, with multiple ongoing projects addressing various aspects of built environments; the cross-disciplinary nature of these efforts involves software engineering, AI/ML, construction engineering, and HCI; and campus DT development at TU/e and ETS signals a shared trajectory toward integrated, data-driven digital twin engineering. The initial participant lineup including leading researchers from TU/e’s Mathematics and Computer Science, Built Environment, and EAISI Digital Twin Lab, alongside ETS GRIDD members from software engineering, construction engineering, and design, offers a rich foundation for identifying use cases, defining requirements, and charting a roadmap for DT-enabled practices across the built environment.

Objectives: The objective of the workshop is to bring together researchers for both universities, and leading practitioners from The Netherlands and the Eindhoven area to:

• Present current DT research efforts at TU/e, ETS, and the Netherlands, highlighting recent findings, methodologies, and demonstrators relevant to built environments.
• Provide an up-to-date assessment of the status and plans for TU/e and ETS campus-level DT initiatives, including governance, interoperability goals, and projected milestones.
• Review the state-of-the-art and state-of-practice in DT engineering, with a focus on existing DT architectures, ontologies, data models, and integration patterns across design, construction, and operation.
• Identify concrete use cases and requirements for DT in the built environment that span lifecycle phases (design, construction, operation, retrofit) and assess their feasibility and impact.
• Explore opportunities for research collaboration between TU/e and ETS on DT for built asset delivery and management DT, including joint project ideas, co-supervision possibilities, and shared facilities or testbeds.
• Investigate potential funding avenues and programs suitable for TU/e-ETS collaboration (national, European, and industry-driven), and draft a preliminary funding strategy and consortium structure.
• Establish a follow-up plan, including a steering group, next steps for proposal development, and scheduling of subsequent coordination meetings with research offices and potential funders.

Main topics of interest:

• Digital twins fundamentals and architecture
  • Reference DT architectures and interoperability patterns
  • Data models, standards, and semantics for built environments
  • Model-based representations (BIM, GIS, IoT schemas)
  • UX and visualisation
• State-of-the-art in DT for built environments
  • Recent research developments at TU/e, ETS, and the Netherlands
  • Case studies and demonstrators in construction, smart buildings, and smart cities
  • Industrial benchmarks and evaluation metrics
• Campus DT initiatives and governance
  • Status, governance, and roadmap for TU/e and ETS campus DT
  • Data governance, security, privacy, and ethical considerations
  • Platform, infrastructure, and deployment models (on-prem vs cloud)
• Data integration, collection, and management
  • IoT integration, sensor networks, and real-time data streams
  • Digital twin data pipelines, data fusion, and quality assurance
  • Data provenance, versioning, and access control
• AI/ML for DT and DT-enabled decision support
  • ML-based anomaly detection, fault diagnosis, prognosis, and predictive maintenance
  • Online learning and concept drift handling for evolving DTs
  • Explainability, trust, and governance of AI components in DT pipelines
  • Edge AI and federated learning approaches for privacy-preserving DT analytics
  • Benchmarking, evaluation metrics, and reproducible ML workflows for DTs
• Collaboration and ecosystem enablement
  • Pathways for TU/e–ETS collaboration, joint projects, and shared testbeds
  • Engagement with industry, policymakers, and end-users
  • Co-creation of use cases and validation across stakeholders
• Funding and governance for joint research
  • Potential national and European funding opportunities
  • IP, data sharing agreements, and collaboration agreements
  • Project management, milestones, and partner responsibilities
• Education, capacity building, and community
  • Training programs, internships, and student projects
  • Community building for researchers, practitioners, and students
  • Open-access dissemination and knowledge transfer
• Open problems and challenges
  • Interoperability gaps, standards alignment, and scalability
  • Trust, reliability, and certification of DTs
  • Ethics, inclusivity, and accessibility concerns

Desired output

• A set of 5–8 prioritized use cases for DT in the built environment, with defined scope, data requirements, and expected value.
• A draft collaboration framework for TU/e–ETS research, outlining potential joint projects, co-supervision arrangements, and partnership with industry or funders.
• A list of funding opportunities and a preliminary proposal outline (themes, partners, roles, and timelines) to support DT collaboration between the two institutions.

List of participants

TU/e:

• Mark van den Brand— Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Director Education, Director of Stan Ackermans Institute

• Michel Chaudron— Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Scientific Director of EAISI Digital Twin Lab

• Loek Cleophas— Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Extraordinary associate professor at Stellenbosch University

• Pieter Pauwels— Department of the Built Environment

• Other people to be added

ETS:

• Francis Bordeleau— Department of Software Engineering and TI, member of the GRIDD

• Ivanka Iordanova (potential virtual on Teams)— Department of Construction Engineering , member of the GRIDD

• Gabriel Jobidon (potential virtual on Teams)— Department of Construction Engineering , member of the GRIDD

• Angélique Montuwy— Department of Design, member of the GRIDD

• Ali Motamedi— Department of Construction Engineering , member of the GRIDD

• Érik Poirier— Department of Construction Engineering , Director of the GRIDD

Workshop Agenda

Draft agenda:

• Wednesday June 17 — Intro day
  • Arrival at TU/e around 11h30
  • Start with a lunch meeting
  • Visit of the TU/e campus in the afternoon
  • Group diner in Eindhoven
• Thursday June 18 — Open Workshop 
  • 09h00 to 17h00 
    • Industrial keynote presentation — to be confirmed
    • Presentations from professors/researchers from both universities
    • Participation to the workshop will be open to graduate students and external people
• Friday June 19 — TU/e-ETS discussion on potential research collaborations 
  • 09h00 to 14h00
    • Strategic and technical discussion about further collaboration
    • People from research office and funding organisations (e.g. TNO) will be invited to the meeting
  • Lunch
  • Departure from TU/e around 14h00

————————–

Co-organizers:

Francis Bordeleau, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)

Mark van den Brand, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)

Pieter Pauwels, Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e)

Érik Poirier, École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS)