Overview
Smart cities and regions today face increasing challenges due to the complexity, fragmentation, and heterogeneity of digital systems being adopted. As they evolve into systems of systems influenced by political, cultural, and economic factors, the integration of diverse technologies becomes technically demanding. However, the more pressing concern is to deliver these technologies in a user-friendly and inclusive way that aligns with common socio-economic goals. Achieving this requires an in-depth understanding of urban dynamics and the effects of decisions taken across sectors. Digital Twins offer a potential solution by creating real-time, evolving digital replicas of urban environments and their components.
METACITIES will establish an Excellence Hub across Southeastern Europe, linking clusters in Cyprus, Greece, and Bulgaria. It envisions a transformative framework for smart city innovation grounded in Digital Twins and other enabling technologies. The initiative will bring together scientific, industrial, governmental, and social stakeholders to co-develop strategies and pilot programmes that address regional needs. By fostering cross-border collaboration, METACITIES will seek to enhance innovation ecosystems, stimulate regional development, and promote long-term sustainability. The project’s investment in shared knowledge, joint R&I strategies, and integrated digital agendas will accelerate the digital transformation of cities and regions in a coherent and inclusive manner.
Objectives
Jointly define long-term Research and Innovation strategies and implementation guidelines on Digital Twins and Metaverse technologies for smart regions in Southeastern Europe.
Identify reference Information Communication Technology architectures of upcoming technologies and infrastructures required to support METACITIES.
Design pilots for feasibility and Proof of Concepts for validation and feedback.
Identify an Integrated Business Process framework and Business Models for METACITIES.
Orchestrate and strengthen local ecosystems and channel their potential to accelerate digital transformation of cities and regions.
Maximise the impact and adoption of METACITIES approach.
eBOS Role in the Project
eBOS will lead the elicitation of socio-techno-economic requirements that will guide all research activities related to the specifications of the Open Digital Twin Framework for the smart cities’ ecosystem. eBOS will oversee all the dissemination and communication activities, ensuring visibility of the project activities through several traditional and electronic dissemination and communication material sent out to a large pool of stakeholders. Apart from designing and maintaining the project’s website, eBOS will also be responsible for the METACITIES social media presence. Moreover, eBOS will have a major contribution to the design and execution of small-scale pilots and demonstrators. Three small-scale pilots will be used as experimental zones, and pilot scenarios will address aspects of the defined Smart City Cases. Lastly, eBOS will act as the quality assurance and risk manager of the project.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
