The IDEATION project successfully completed a significant phase of stakeholder engagement aimed at defining the future Digital Twin (DT) for Europe’s inland waters. Between August 2024 and February 2025, the project engaged 348 stakeholders across 15 European countries through Multi-Stakeholder Forums (MSFs), bilateral discussions, and surveys.

This extensive engagement, managed under the project’s Work Package 2, leveraged the network of Water-Oriented Living Labs (WOLLs) and project partners to gather essential insights. The feedback collected provides a rich foundation of functional and non-functional requirements necessary for developing a comprehensive and user-centric DT for rivers, lakes, groundwater, and other inland water bodies.

The IDEATION project’s core objective is to deliver a roadmap, reference architecture, and knowledge base for this vital DT, ensuring its interoperability with the existing Digital Twin Ocean (DTO). Together, these initiatives aim to create a seamless digital representation of Europe’s entire hydrosphere, directly supporting the EU’s “Restore our Ocean and Waters” mission by enabling more efficient and integrated water management.

Insights gathered from stakeholders have not only defined core requirements but also highlighted potential applications for the DT, including enhancing early warning systems, providing evidence for legal compliance, supporting educational programs, aiding infrastructure planning, and improving risk assessment. Furthermore, stakeholders validated priority water types within their regions, refining the project’s focus and informing the development of specific use cases which has now commenced. You can check all results in the official report.

The first round of MSFs is set to conclude in May 2025, with ongoing activities planned for international events and follow-up forums targeting prioritized water types. The collected requirements are now being utilized by the project’s technical work packages (WP4 and WP5) to design the DT reference architecture and formulate the strategic roadmap.