Presentation Information
[BSG7SMHd-02]From Ocean Integration to Ocean Strategy: A Principles-Driven Framework for the Long-Term Success of Regional Digital Twins
*Joaquín Tintoré1 (1. IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB) (Spain))
Regional Digital Twins of the Ocean (RDTOs) offer a unique opportunity to transform ocean science by delivering measurable societal impact. Realizing this potential requires recognizing RDTOs not simply as complicated technological platforms, but as complex socio-technical systems. Despite advances in observing systems, modelling, and digital infrastructures, societal impact remains constrained by fragmented disciplinary and institutional silos, persistent “sea-blindness” in governance, and limited progress in ocean literacy and connecting people with the ocean.
Addressing these systemic barriers requires organizational transformation alongside scientific and technological innovation. Building on progress in ocean integration, the next step is a coherent Ocean Strategy. Here, strategy is understood as an integrative set of mutually reinforcing choices that aligns people, disciplines, and organizations around a shared purpose. Such a strategy must be principles-driven, since decision-making in complex systems requires enduring principles rather than fixed rules to guide short-term decisions while sustaining a clear long-term direction. If strategy defines the map, principles provide the compass for navigating uncertainty.
Drawing on Roger Martin’s Strategy Choice Cascade, we develop an Ocean Strategy to guide the design and long-term success of Regional DTOs. We illustrate its implementation through the 17-year strategic evolution of the SOCIB Research Infrastructure and discuss the leadership and organizational changes required in two-sided scientific organizations balancing scientific excellence and societal impact.
Our analysis shows that the long-term success of Regional DTOs depends on a paradigm shift: from bureaucratic inertia to principle-based agile governance, from fragmented disciplinary efforts to symbiotic innovation ecosystems, and from scientific excellence alone to scientific excellence with societal impact. By aligning people around a shared purpose, such an Ocean Strategy builds trust, sustains communities of practice, connects people with the ocean, attracts the next generation, and enables Regional DTOs to evolve beyond technological platforms into socio-technical catalysts for ocean sustainability and human well-being.
Addressing these systemic barriers requires organizational transformation alongside scientific and technological innovation. Building on progress in ocean integration, the next step is a coherent Ocean Strategy. Here, strategy is understood as an integrative set of mutually reinforcing choices that aligns people, disciplines, and organizations around a shared purpose. Such a strategy must be principles-driven, since decision-making in complex systems requires enduring principles rather than fixed rules to guide short-term decisions while sustaining a clear long-term direction. If strategy defines the map, principles provide the compass for navigating uncertainty.
Drawing on Roger Martin’s Strategy Choice Cascade, we develop an Ocean Strategy to guide the design and long-term success of Regional DTOs. We illustrate its implementation through the 17-year strategic evolution of the SOCIB Research Infrastructure and discuss the leadership and organizational changes required in two-sided scientific organizations balancing scientific excellence and societal impact.
Our analysis shows that the long-term success of Regional DTOs depends on a paradigm shift: from bureaucratic inertia to principle-based agile governance, from fragmented disciplinary efforts to symbiotic innovation ecosystems, and from scientific excellence alone to scientific excellence with societal impact. By aligning people around a shared purpose, such an Ocean Strategy builds trust, sustains communities of practice, connects people with the ocean, attracts the next generation, and enables Regional DTOs to evolve beyond technological platforms into socio-technical catalysts for ocean sustainability and human well-being.
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