Oral D4 Cross-Sector Applications & Solutions

9:30 AM - 9:45 AM JST(12:30 AM - 12:45 AM UTC)

[X5rLbKi3-03] How can we make usable and useful DTOs for local communities facing large offshore developments? Tailoring DTO applications to the needs of a small island community

*Lara Veylit¹ (1. SINTEF Ocean (Norway))

Digital twins of the ocean (DTOs) are increasingly proposed to support sustainable management of marine and coastal systems by offering users digital representations of ocean systems. Thus far, the DTO community has largely focused on challenges related to technological implementation rather than on the usability of tools by end users. Here, we discuss how in a demonstration use case we tailored the development of a regional DTO by co-designing solutions with end users. Our use case focuses on developing digital tools for stakeholders living near or at Norway’s smallest municipality, Utsira. This small island community faces the development of the world’s largest floating offshore wind park in its local waters. In meetings and discussions with stakeholders, they voiced concerns about how the development will contribute to visual and sound pollution. In addition, stakeholders voiced interest in the development of a digital tool that can help them understand what potential social, economic, and ecological impacts the offshore wind park will have on the community. To meet these needs, we are co-designing a decision support dashboard in which local stakeholders can simulate social, ecological, and economic impacts of different wind development decisions using relevant “what-if” scenarios. These scenarios are modelling using a novel fuzzy cognitive mapping approach in which key stakeholders define model variables and assign values to links, which are re-parameterized over time through a democratized, app-based approach. As part of this dashboard, we have developed an immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experience to simulate different proposed configurations of the wind park from an iconic, high point of the island. In our presentation, we would like to demonstrate our DTO and our stakeholder needs-first approach.