This workshop, hosted by Connected Places Catapult for the TransiT Digital Twinning for Transport Decarbonisation programme, will explore  how connectivity enables digital twinning for a decarbonised UK transport system, and the cyber-physical architecture needed to support it. 

Digital twinning will underpin how future transport is planned, operated and decarbonised, drawing on continuous information exchange between vehicles, infrastructure, operators and energy systems. Communications networks are the layer on which this depends, yet are they treated as a core transport infrastructure component? The hypothesis is: without reliable, scalable connectivity, the digital twins intended to guide decarbonisation cannot be trusted to reflect the systems they represent. 

Bringing together transport, telecommunications, energy, government, industry and academia, the workshop will identify practical priorities for building resilient and interoperable digital foundations for UK transport. 

Workshop format and topics

The morning session combines strategic context-setting, a keynote presentation, and short firestarter presentations. The rest of the day is built around interactive working sessions, group discussions and a panel debate, with the emphasis on shared learning, practical insight and action-oriented recommendations. 

Discussion will focus on four key themes: 

• Connectivity and communications – the role of 5G and 6G, IoT, edge-cloud computing and real-time communications in supporting transport operations, cyber-physical systems and digital twins. 

• Data interoperability and digital twins – enabling data, models and services to work across organisations and sectors to support scalable and trusted digital twin ecosystems. 

• Decarbonisation and energy integration – connecting transport, energy and digital infrastructure to support net zero objectives, climate resilience and sustainable mobility systems. 

• Governance and policy – exploring the frameworks, regulatory considerations and collaborative approaches needed to enable data sharing, interoperability and cyber-physical transport integration. 

Why attend?

This workshop is designed for people and organisations with a role in shaping the UK’s future transport systems, including stakeholders working across transport, telecommunications, government, industry, energy and academia.  

Participants will help to identify priority use cases, barriers, capability needs, missing collaborations and the actions that should be prioritised next. Outputs from the day will contribute to a future vision for cyber-physical transport architecture in the UK and help strengthen cross-sector collaboration around digital twinning, connectivity and decarbonisation.  

The TransiT team would love your insights to be part of their more formal research, and we may ask you about this at the event.

About TransiT

TransiT a national research hub using digital twins and associated technologies to identify the fastest, least-risky and lowest cost pathways to transport decarbonisation in the UK.

It is a collaboration of eight universities and almost 70 industry partners, jointly led by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow. It is funded by the UK Research and Innovation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and supported by the UK government’s Department for Transport.