Bringing Industry to the Classroom - Advanced Digital Skills

Best practices

Bringing Industry to the Classroom: Expert Conferences Connecting Students with Digital Twin Innovation

DIGITWIN4CIUE – Digital Twins for Complex Infrastructures and Urban Ecosystems

DIGITWIN4CIUE

Beatriz Martin Bautista Cerro

Rocío López Espinosa

Digital twins represent a rapidly growing field in the built environment. Their adoption by private and public sectors highlights the need for professionals who understand both the technical and strategic value these tools bring to infrastructure planning, design, construction, and operation.

To meet this need, the European project DIGITWIN4CIUE aims to “foster collaboration: build a culture of cooperation between academia and industry to drive innovation and develop sustainable, efficient construction practices”. This vision is realised through the Entrepreneurship Pillar of its Centre of Excellence, which promotes initiatives bridging academic knowledge and professional innovation.

A flagship action is the Executive Master’s in Digital Twins for Infrastructures and Cities, a specialised programme for professionals and engineers in civil engineering, smart cities, and related fields. It offers training in advanced digital technologies, preparing participants to design, implement, and manage innovative solutions across the infrastructure lifecycle.

This academic offer meets labour market needs and supports ongoing professional development, helping organisations stay at the forefront of technological progress.

The challenge?

In an increasingly competitive environment, with a growing academic offering and rapid technological advancement, prospective students are becoming more discerning in their choice of programmes. Attracting top talent is therefore a strategic priority for the success and sustainability of the DIGITWIN4CIUE project, and an opportunity to strengthen its position as a leader in innovation and digitalisation in the infrastructure sector. This situation posed a challenge during the design of the master’s programme. The aim was to ensure it stood out by combining high-quality education with the practical application of cutting-edge technologies, while aligning with the real needs of the labour market. At the same time, a key question emerged: how can we attract students by offering a programme that is up-to-date, dynamic, and aligned with scientific and technological innovation?

Our solution

As a response to the identified challenge, the Executive Master’s in Digital Twins for Infrastructures and Cities established the Conference Cycle: a series of public sessions led by global experts that go beyond the conventional applications of digital twins. These events delve into real-world use cases across a variety of sectors—including structural assessment of infrastructures (such as buildings, bridges, tunnels, and dams), transport and mobility, the construction industry, hydrology, and energy. The sessions provide valuable insights into how digital twins can improve asset maintenance, enable data-driven decision-making, and increase resource efficiency.

The conferences are held on a biweekly basis, in both virtual and in-person formats, across the five partner universities delivering the master’s programme. Through this initiative, students benefit from continuous exposure to industry leaders, researchers, and professionals, allowing them to:

Engage directly with key stakeholders in the field;
Gain up-to-date knowledge on the latest developments in digital twin technologies;
Participate in discussions that bridge academic learning with real-world industry demands.

Outcomes

This initiative has successfully created a dynamic learning and knowledge-transfer environment by bringing master’s students into direct contact with leading voices in the field. The Conference Cycle has featured guest speakers from renowned institutions such as the University of Colorado Boulder (USA), Technische Universität Dresden and Universität der Bundeswehr München (Germany), and Edinburgh Napier University (United Kingdom), as well as from prominent companies and organisations including ARUP, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC), AdvaNet Hungary, SENER, and Bentley Systems, among others.

As a result, the master’s programme has gained increasing international visibility. This is evidenced by the significant growth of our communication and outreach channels – driven largely by the Conference Cycle – with over 3,000 followers on LinkedIn and approximately 10,000 views on YouTube. Notably, more than 80% of prospective students now discover the programme through one of these two key platforms.

The initiative has also fostered a learning environment centred on continuous development, where students are encouraged to engage in meaningful knowledge exchange beyond formal assessments, driven by curiosity, critical thinking, and professional ambition.

In addition, the in-person sessions of the Conference Cycle provide valuable networking opportunities, enabling students to connect directly with guest speakers during dedicated engagement moments. These face-to-face interactions are essential for building professional networks, exploring career trajectories, and stimulating future collaborations within the fast-evolving digital twin ecosystem.

Key takeaways

Schedule integration within academic hours: Embedding Conference Cycle sessions within the master’s regular timetable ensures consistent student attendance and reinforces their value as an essential component of the learning experience.
Bridge between industry and academia: Favor direct interaction with industry leaders, researchers, and policymakers aligns academic learning with real-world market needs, enhancing students’ readiness for professional challenges and supporting their career development.
Include student’s participation at the Conference Cycle: Include student’s participation directly at the Conference help students to keep themselves highly motivated and disciplined throughout the course.