The mayor of Barcelona, ​​​​Ada Colau, and the mayor of Bologna, Matteo Lepore, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on July 8 in Barcelona with two of the three most powerful supercomputers in Europe, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), the CINECA Interuniversity Consortium and the University of Bologna to develop an evidence-based public policy model through the construction and development of urban digital twins.

The president of the CINECA and IFAB Interuniversity Consortium, Francesco Ubertini, and the associate director of the BSC, Josep Maria Martorell, also signed the memorandum. The event was also attended by the deputy mayor of Agenda 2030, Digital Transition, Sports and Territorial and Metropolitan Coordination of the Barcelona City Council, Laia Bonet, among other representatives of the different research institutions involved in the agreement.

Digital twins are based on the modeling of urban dynamics using massive data. In the case of a city, the digital twin makes it possible to anticipate the impact of public policies before they are applied and is a fundamental tool for advancing public institutions towards evidence-based decision-making models. Both cities share the goal of moving towards a decision-making and policy-making model based on evidence and impact assessment, particularly in the areas of urban mobility, energy, urban planning and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions policies .

With this commitment to the construction and development of urban digital twins and the joint work between the two city councils and their research institutions, Barcelona and Bologna want to position themselves as benchmarks in the field of urban digital governance and promote the development of a European digital infrastructure for urban policies through the promotion of a European network of cities with digital twins. The interest in working together in this area will also make it possible to seek external financing opportunities for the development of urban digital twins through European programmes.

This initiative deepens the collaboration agreement signed between the two cities last April in Barcelona, ​​where they committed to work together in various fields, such as digital policies and science and research policies with and for citizens.