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AIOTI Days 2024, 24/25 September, Brussels

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PUBLICATIONS

Guidance for the Integration of Digital Twins in Data Spaces Report R1

AIOTI WG Standardisation published a new report on Guidance for the Integration of Digital Twins in Data Spaces, Release 1.

This document focuses on the integration of digital twins in data spaces:

• it provides a context on data spaces, digital twins, IoT and edge computing and standardisation:
• it provides an analysis on the integration of digital twins in data spaces taking an architecture approach;
• it describes a large number of digital twin use cases in domains such as agriculture, connected vehicles, smart cities, energy, smart manufacturing;

The document can be used to provide insights and sources for future standardisation work related to the integration of digital twins in data spaces.

This document also leverages the following reports:

• The EU Observatory for ICT Standardisation (EUOS) published in June 2022 a report prepared by the StandICT task work group (TWG) entitled Landscape of Digital Twins[1].
• AIOTI published in September 2022 a report prepared by the standardisation working group (WG) entitled Guidance for the Integration of IoT and Edge Computing in Data Spaces[2]
• BDVA published in February 2024 a report prepared by the task force on data spaces and task force on standards entitled Data Sharing Spaces and Interoperability[3]

[1] https://zenodo.org/records/6556917

[2] https://aioti.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/AIOTI-Guidance-for-IoT-Integration-in-Data-Spaces-Final.pdf

[3] https://bdva.eu/news/bdvas-position-paper-on-data-sharing-spaces-and-interoperability/

AIOTI input for strategic dialogue on the future of EU agriculture

AIOTI provided input to the Strategic dialogue on the future of EU agriculture that can be found here.

The European Commission launched in January the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture with the aim to shape a shared vision for the EU farming and food system. AIOTI contributed to this initiative by providing its recommendations:

1. New regulations -derived from new CAP- are coming too fast, imposing the adoption of new digital tools which are neither sufficiently known by the farming sector, nor sufficiently tested in real conditions. In addition, new tools are perceived both as an extra burden and as new means for increasing the control over farmers activity, when they were intended to be the opposite: tools for making farmers’ life easier. As a result, waivers and extensions for tools deployment are being granted3,4, delaying the expected benefits of adoption as well.

2. The benefits of digital technologies and their real performance in farming are not always clear or well understood. This could be partially due to the ag-tech sector still acting in overselling mode, but it is true that measuring and comparing different technologies is not straightforward, making difficult to estimate the Return on Investment, which in turn acts as a barrier to adoption.

3. Digital technology and farming are still two worlds apart. Although the gap has been decreasing in the last years, technology providers -coming mainly from ICT sector- and farmers still speak different languages. Together with a generalized lack of awareness of digital solutions, the “technology push” bias and the risk-averse tradition of the farming sector makes difficult to translate technology features into tangible benefits and, conversely, to translate pain points into product requirements. This is also related to the lack of usability of the technology offerings.

4. Lack of interoperability. The proliferation of proprietary solutions and the lack of standards adoption lead, among others, to vendor lock-in, difficulty of integrating data from different tools, and scalability issues. Non-interoperable systems lead eventually to higher complexity and higher costs. These problems are specially relevant for small farms, with less financial resources and technical expertise to face the technical challenges.

5. Lack of wireless network coverage in rural areas. We cannot ignore the current situation in which the connectivity needs of a large proportion of the farming areas in the EU are inadequately served. This is seen commonly as one of the main barriers for the adoption of digital technologies in farming, not only of advance services but even the basic ones. 6. Poor usability or ease of use. The current offering by technology companies may seem appropriate for the highly digitally literate but often there is a lack of effort to build easy to sue interfaces and workflows. This further frustrates farmers/farm employees who are perfectly familiar with slick interfaces from Facebook and others.

Considering the previous aspects, we propose the following measures to help in accelerating the adoption of digital technologies, in order to achieve the expected benefits in the farming sector.

1. Envisage a smoother transition of regulation enforcement for the adoption of digital tools. A transition period should be established, incentivising voluntary adoption before it is made compulsory. In the meantime, the farming sector should be supported to get acquainted with the new tools and obtains hands-on experience in their use.

2. Support mechanisms and instruments to bring digital technology closer to farmers. This could include the following: a. More efforts to involve farmers in the co-creation of new digital tools and solutions together with the ag-tech sector. b. Enable ag-tech companies to test and validate their innovative technologies in real conditions, demonstrating performance and viability. In this regard, it is highly advisable to build on the TEF (Testing and Experimentation Facilities)5 model which is already being developed with help of the European Commission through the Digital Europe programme. c. Provide training for farmers, as well as other key members of the farming ecosystem (e.g. digital advisors) so they can make well-informed decisions on the selection of tools and technology providers.

a. Raise more digital awareness, specially at a local level, sharing good practices and real experiences (of real farmers)

b. Organise sessions providing overview of current innovation activities, projects, etc.

d. Build on the existing European network of Digital Innovation Hubs for accomplishing these tasks.

3. Accelerate the adoption of standards that make digital farming solutions truly interoperable. This includes, but is not limited to, the efforts being done on the European Agrifood Data Space6. The agri-food sector should be in the priorities considered within the Rolling Plan for ICT Standardisation. There are also global initiatives concerning digital agri-tech, for example led by ISO, for which there should be more support.

4. Accelerate the deployment of connectivity solutions that work for farming areas. This includes the deployment of next-gen connectivity technologies (5G) in rural areas and the design of future generation (6G) serving the real needs of the farming sector, but also the design of alternative connectivity solutions and/or business models.

5. One crucial (and transversal) aspect for supporting the adoption of digital technologies, is to measure and monitor their real use. Currently it is challenging to find reliable statistics for the farming sector. On the one hand, we need standardised surveys with comparable data, at the EU level, on the adoption of digital tools (by technology, type of farming activity, etc). On the other hand, the current connectivity coverage statistics based on population coverage do not reflect well the reality in the farming sector. We definitely need to build a EU Digital Index for the farming sector.

6. With the greater awareness of the importance of environmentally friendly agriculture, and the growth of organic farming, agroecology and regenerative agriculture, it would be important to support the development of solutions for these sectors. This may involve relatively simple uses of sensors to highly sophisticated digital models/digital twins and gamification of the agricultural transition. We need digital solutions focussed on the needs of an agriculture that will ensure the transition to zero emissions.

The points above need close cooperation between public (policy) and private side. Some of them are already being tackled by several stakeholders around Europe, including the EC, Member States and private organisations. The focus should be put in streamlining efforts and finding synergies between the different initiatives to drive all in the same direction.

EVENTS

AIOTI EVENTS:

AIOTI webinar presenting High-Level Architecture and Guidance for the Integration of Digital Twins in Data Spaces reports

OTHER EVENTS:

INSTAR Roadmaps: Mapping future priority topics with our European Task Forces Webinar

🗓️ 11 October, 2024
⏰ 11:00 – 12:15 CEST

The second webinar, titled “INSTAR Roadmaps: Mapping future priority topics with our European Task Forces” is designed to offer invaluable perspectives drawn from the work of INSTAR’s European TaskForces. It will present the latest developments in INSTAR’s roadmaps, aimed at fostering alignment and collaboration across international standardisation efforts.

Save the date, and register for the webinar here:
➡️ https://www.instarstandards.org/events/webinar-instar-roadmaps-mapping-future-priority-topics-our-european-task-forces

NEM Summit 2024 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Horizon Europe Digital Brokerage Event & Travel Grants at 5G Techritory 2024

• The grant covers travel and accommodation expenses up to €1,000.
• To apply or clarify any questions, please contact your National Contact Point (NCP) representative.
• For a list of eligible countries and NCP contacts, visit NCP WIDERA.NET Travel Grants.

Call for papers: IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning for Communication and Networking (ICMLCN 2025)

Important Dates:
We are pleased to invite researchers, academics, and industry professionals to submit their latest work and proposals to the IEEE ICMLCN 2025. This prestigious conference will be held in the vibrant city of Barcelona, Spain, from May 26 to 29, 2025.

demo proposals and industry panel proposals, to the second edition of IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning for Communication and Networking (IEEE ICMLCN 2025). After a very successful first edition, we kindly invite your original research paper submissions, tutorial proposals, special session proposals,
Paper Submissions: 31 October 2024
Special Session Proposals: 31 October 2024
Demo Proposals: 13 December 2024
Tutorial Proposals: 13 December 2024
Industry Panel Proposals: 13 December 2024
Acceptance Notification: 31 January 2025
Camera-Ready: 14 February 2025

IEEE ICMLCN 2025 aims to unite leading experts in machine learning, communication, networking, and signal processing to discuss and promote cutting-edge innovations and applications. It provides a dynamic platform for the exchange of ideas, fostering collaboration between academia and industry.
For more information on call for papers and submission guidelines, please visit https://icmlcn2025.ieee-icmlcn.org/call-papers and https://icmlcn2025.ieee-icmlcn.org/information-authors.
For tutorial proposals, please visit https://icmlcn2025.ieee-icmlcn.org/call-tutorial-proposals.

For special session proposals, please visit https://icmlcn2025.ieee-icmlcn.org/call-papers/call-special-sessions.

The conference brings together researchers from the disciplines of Machine Learning (ML), Communication and Networking and Signal Processing, and aims at promoting fundamental and applied research of ML for designing and analyzing communication systems and networks, for developing communication protocols to support ML services, as well as for advancing distributed ML over communication networks. The conference targets any communication and networking area, such as, but not limited to, wireless, satellite, optical, or molecular communications, Internet, and WLAN.

Organizing Committee of IEEE ICMLCN 2025
https://icmlcn2025.ieee-icmlcn.org/committees/organizing-committee

SOCIAL MEDIA