IoT Belfast 28: Digital Twins (w/ Digital Catapult)

IoT Belfast is back! Join us for an evening of insights, innovations, and networking as we reflect on the past year's developments in IoT and take a forward look into 2025. This month, we're diving deep into the evolving landscape of digital twins, exploring how intelligent technologies, semantic interoperability, and IoT convergence are shaping the future of connected systems.

About the Speakers & Talk Topics

• Rebecca Lutton: Rebecca is a Senior Technologist at Digital Catapult in Belfast, specialising in digital integration and transformation. With a PhD in Advanced Materials, an MEng in Mechanical Engineering, and an MSc in IoT, she brings a rare blend of materials science and digital expertise to her work.
  Talk - Not Just a Model: The Real Meaning of Digital Twins - Digital twins are everywhere, or so we’re told; however,many so-called “twins” are just static dashboards or 3D models with no real feedback or control. We’ll walk through the difference between shadows, simulations, true twins and show how to evolve your IoT setup from data-rich to action-ready.
• Anna McAllister: Anna is a forward-thinking Intelligence Technologist, with deep expertise in mathematical modelling and artificial intelligence. Holding a PhD in Mathematical Modelling of Chaotic Systems from Ulster University and an MSci in Mathematics from Queens University Belfast, she combines theoretical knowledge with practical applications
  Talk: The Missing Link: Intelligence as the Soul of Digital Twins - This talk explores the foundational tech stack behind digital twins, including IoT, simulation, and data integration. We’ll then dive into how AI and machine learning elevate these systems, enabling capabilities like anomaly detection, self-calibration, and autonomous control.
• Michael Loughlin: Michael has worked in technology development for over 25 years, delivering enterprise solutions in telecoms, cyber-security and healthcare. Throughout his career he has specialized in the commercialization of academic research, working in multidisciplinary teams to drive the transfer of technologies across traditional sector boundaries.
  Talk: Ontologies - I see what you mean! - The application of ontologies to increasingly varied domains is reaping dividends for solution architects and software developers seeking deeper interoperability within a technology stack. Even more attractive are the opportunities for insightful reasoning and inferencing made possible through the semantic representations captured in ontologies. This talk explores the increasing use of ontologies in enterprise software. What is an ontology? How do I create one? How do I use one?

Agenda

• 6:30 PM: Informal networking with light refreshments.
• 7:00 PM: Welcome and introductions by Martin Naughton.
• 7:15 PM: Presentations:
• Rebecca Lutton - Not Just a Model: The Real Meaning of Digital Twins - (15 mins + 5 mins Q&A).
• Anne McAllister - The Missing Link: Intelligence as the Soul of Digital Twins (15 mins + 5 mins Q&A).
• Michael Loughlin - Ontologies - I see what you mean! (15 mins + 5 mins Q&A).
• 8:15 PM: More chats afterwards
• 8:30 PM: Head for pints

Location
Digital Catapult - 6th floor, 8 Lanyon Pl, Belfast BT1 3LP

This event was organized by Galvia Digital