Hyderabad: The series of networking events under the Sangam-Digital Twin initiative, spearheaded by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has concluded on a high note. The final event, held at T-Hub, Hyderabad on July 10-11, 2024, marked the culmination of a series of engaging and productive sessions aimed at revolutionizing infrastructure planning through advanced digital solutions.
The Sangam Networking Events, hosted across four prestigious institutions—IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, PES University Bangalore, and T-Hub Hyderabad—brought together over 400 participants from leading companies, academia, and government sectors. These events focused on developing comprehensive blueprints for Digital Twin-enabled solutions that address various challenges by leveraging diverse data sources.
Each event featured insightful keynote addresses by esteemed speakers, who highlighted the significance of harnessing data to solve real-world problems. At the first networking event in Delhi, Dr. Neeraj Mittal, Secretary of Telecommunications, stated, “Our goal is to develop viable projects, secure funding, and present them to the government to demonstrate the feasibility of creating an infrastructure planning tool for the national level.”
During the final event in Hyderabad, Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary, ITE&C, Telangana Government, emphasized the importance of industry collaboration to build digital twins. Niraj Verma, Additional Secretary of Telecom, added, “These initiatives have set in motion significant collaboration among participants, fostering new ideas, knowledge, and capabilities. Our goal is to develop viable projects, secure funding, and demonstrate the feasibility of creating a national-level infrastructure planning tool.”
Breakout Sessions
The breakout sessions covered key verticals such as Intelligent Traffic Management, Multimodal Public Transport Optimization, Comprehensive Mobility Planning, Traffic Emission Management, Water Distribution Networks, Disaster Management, and Aspirational Blocks focusing on Health and Nutrition, and Education.
Cross-Sectoral Collaboration
Participants engaged in collaborative discussions to integrate data from diverse sources while ensuring privacy preservation through advanced technologies. Horizontal topics such as Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs), Data Provider and AI Governance Framework, Virtual World Creation and Interaction Capabilities, and Mathematical Modelling and Physics-Based Simulations were also explored.
Innovative Solutions and Future Roadmaps
The events produced viable project blueprints and strategic roadmaps for implementation. These outputs will guide the design and architecture of future solutions, define roles for various stakeholders, identify potential customers, and establish funding and governance mechanisms.
A special emphasis was laid on Aspirational Blocks in all the events, focusing on finding solutions and building models for enhancing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across Health and Nutrition, Education, and other themes for these blocks.
The Sangam-Digital Twin initiative has successfully demonstrated the power of collaboration between industry, academia, and government sectors to develop innovative digital solutions for infrastructure planning. The outcomes of these events will pave the way for future advancements in the field, ultimately contributing to the nation’s growth and development.