ORION at Data Week 2026:Digital Twins and the Future of Energy Data Sharing

Data Week is the annual spring gathering of the Big Data and Data-Driven AI research and innovation community in Europe, organised by the Big Data Value Association (BDVA). The 2026 edition, themed “Data Fjords: Unlocking AI for Industry and Society”, took place on 5 and 6 May 2026 in Oslo, Norway, in collaboration with leading Norwegian research institutions including SINTEF, NTNU, IFE and Vestlandsforsking, and supported by the Research Council of Norway.

ORION was represented at a dedicated session titled “Digital Twins, Energy Data Spaces and Interoperability for the Sustainable Energy Transition”, one of the key technical sessions of the event. The session brought together perspectives from several leading European projects, including ORION, INTEREST, SAGE, alongside industry initiatives and local use cases, to explore how Digital Twins and interoperable data-sharing mechanisms can support the clean energy transition.

Scott Young, Head of R&D at AugmentCity, jointly presented with Balram Panjwani from SINTEF on the Digital Twin methodologies and frameworks developed within ORION and its sister project INTEREST. The presentation covered how ORION’s graphical Digital Twin platform enables end users to visualise and interact with energy data across its six international use cases, spanning port energy consumption in Cabo Verde, PV farm fault analysis in Iberia, wave energy generation in Slovenia, cruise ship energy management in Norway, distributed power grid simulation in Brazil, and energy plant operations in Canada.

Fengshuo Hao from RWTH Aachen University followed with a dedicated real-world Digital Twin use case demonstration drawn directly from the ORION project. The demonstration focused on how Digital Twin concepts can be applied in practice to support the clean energy transition, with particular emphasis on improved system visibility, operational coordination and interoperability, as well as how ORION connects Digital Twin approaches with trusted energy data sharing and standards-based data exchange within the broader Energy Data Spaces discussion.

Reflecting on the event as a whole, Fengshuo highlighted a wider shift taking place across the European research and industry community. There is strong momentum to move Digital Twin and Data Space concepts beyond pilot activities and into practical implementation. Interoperability, trust, governance and demonstrable value creation remain central challenges, but they also represent significant opportunities for collaboration between projects, industry partners and policy communities in the years ahead.

ORION’s participation at Data Week 2026 reinforced the project’s relevance within European discussions on digital energy infrastructure. The work being done across ORION’s international use cases, connecting graphical Digital Twins with real-world energy data in diverse operational contexts, directly addresses the challenges at the heart of the clean energy transition. As the field moves from research toward deployment, ORION is well positioned to contribute to the collaborative frameworks and practical standards that will define the next phase of Europe’s digital energy future.