The Baltic Sea digital twin to be developed by Latvia

Latvia has announced an initiative to develop a digital twin of the Baltic Sea to combat the effects of climate change under the name of Mission Sea 2030. The announcement was made at the 5G Techritory forum, where the world’s leading minds in 5G gather annually to discuss the industry’s most pressing topics.

The Baltic Sea digital twin is expected to provide a simulated environment where it will be possible to model the effects human activity has on the sea as a means to better plan and build innovations that impact it. The concept was presented by Marios Nicolaou, 5G strategist and program director at 5G Techritory. He laid out the components of the digital twin concept, which is made up of data and marine instrumentation, connectivity via telecoms and satellite, the Digital Twin engine powered by ML and AI, and policy and legal action. 

A series of workshops will be held with corresponding specialists to identify the extent and array of pollution and degradation that is wished to be tracked and impacted, mapping the available data to be used for the twin, identifying the practical aspects of connectivity, building the engine, as well as discussing the necessary action regarding policy and legal framework to support the digital twin.

The Baltic Sea is one of the most polluted seas in the world and urgently needs to be renewed and regenerated in order to improve the well-being and growth potential of the nations surrounding it.

“The Baltic Sea’s digital twin will be a meaningful component to accomplishing Mission Sea 2030, using the latest technology to identify, model, and monitor the sea ecosystem. Our aim is to foster the cooperation between industries and implement new solutions that would fuel economic growth and ensure the natural regeneration of the sea,” Janis Nigals, Leader of Mission Sea at the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia.

The initiative was discussed by a panel of experts, who collectively expressed the various expected benefits of the twin, which ranged from country-wide benefits for society at large to driving innovation in individual industries. The participating experts were Raimonds Aleksejenko, Deputy State Secretary at the Ministry of Economics of Latvia, Inese Andersone, Member of the Riga City Council, Viesturs Zeps, Head of the Board of Freeport Riga, Talis Juhna, the Prorector of Science at Riga Technical University, and Janis Nigals, Leader of Mission Sea at the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia.

The Baltic Sea’s digital twin presentation recording will be available on the forum’s digital platform until December 31st.