The DigiLab/BE project aims to 

• create a digital platform which will 
• allow students and the general public 
• to learn how to create, use and learn from digital twins

In this DIGILAB/BE project we intend 

• to take a breakthrough technology that is radically changing the professions in the AEC field (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) such as the Digital Twin
• break it down into its components
• adapt them to the educational environment at different levels (EQF 5 and 6 mainly, but also 4)
• turn it into a simulation tool similar to its role in industry
• but as a means of also modernising the ways of teaching.

In the most general terms, the project aims to 

• create a digital platform which will 
• allow students and the general public to 
• learn how to create, use and learn from digital twins. 

This technology is in itself important as a development in 3D technologies, scanning and simulation, and is seeing increasing use in and interest from European and global industry.

Furthermore, the platform and the project will contribute 

• to increasing the attractiveness and awareness of science education and scientific careers, 
• boosting the interest of young people in STEM. 

Digital technologies are currently causing radical and dizzying changes. We are constantly experiencing this paradigm shift in our personal lives, through the devices with which we coexist. The same change is happening in our professional and educational lives, although perhaps a little slower. 

Companies are organisations with their own culture and often offer resistance to change.

Educational institutions are generally organisations with a great deal of inertia, where changes and updates tend to be slow. This is why companies, under pressure from the need to compete, often manage to adapt to digital transformation more quickly than universities and other educational institutions. Even in technical and technological education, the gap between the academic and professional worlds is a reality. 

Therefore, in this DIGILAB/BE project we intend 

• to take a breakthrough technology that is radically changing the professions in the AEC field (Architecture, Engineering and Construction) such as the Digital Twin
• break it down into its components
• adapt them to the educational environment at different levels (EQF 5 and 6 mainly, but also 4)
• turn it into a simulation tool similar to its role in industry
• but as a means of also modernising the ways of teaching. 

The purpose is therefore to teach 

• the concept of Digital Twins, to teach 
• how to build them and, 
• at the same time, to turn them into Digital or Virtual Laboratories where creativity can be applied to the generation of new content and ways of teaching. 

In this way, students who acquire these skills will

• On the one hand, benefit from the use of new, more modern ways of learning that take advantage of digital tools. 
• On the other hand, when they finish their training and enter the professional market, they are familiar with technologies that are recent but ubiquitous, bringing differential value to their companies and greatly accelerating their learning curve.

The specific needs we aim to address are:

• To familiarise and train AEC students in the universe of digital technologies that are transforming the AEC sector with a global and holistic vision, giving great importance to the meaning and value that each technology can bring
• To motivate students to develop a critical and creative spirit in relation to digital transformation, understanding the reasons for the current and potential uses of each invention.
• To increase the capacity of recent graduates to contribute value to the organisations they join, improving their employability.
• To promote, at pre-university level, an attractive, inclusive and accessible STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education, without cultural, gender or resource barriers 
• To promote creativity by providing students with a digital infrastructure (the Digital Twin) that they can turn into a laboratory of innovative experiences thanks to their creativity and collaborative work (Digital Lab)
• To Involve business institutions in learning the skills targeted by the project, in order to benefit from the vision and experience of the market reality.

The project work is divided into Project Results.

The Project Results are:

• PR1: Handbook
• PR2: Building Digital Twin
• PR3: Virtual Training with Digital Twin
• PR4: Updating Digital Twin with Dynamic Data
• PR5: Smartization of Digital Twin
• PR6: Debriefing report