A new European city network dedicated to citizen-centred Local Digital Twins (LDTs) and Citiverses launches on 6 October 2026 with a half-day online event: Accessible by Design: Putting accessibility at the heart of Europe's Local Digital Twins
The network is a joint initiative of the European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness project and the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC (European Digital Infrastructure Consortium), bringing together municipalities, NGOs, architects and service designers around one question: How do we make sure digital urban spaces work for the many, including people with different abilities, families with children with disabilities? European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness project is one of four EU-funded projects, alongside x-CITE, SENSE and 3DxVERSE - a shared European effort to build interoperable, citizen-facing digital twins for cities. The new network extends that ecosystem's accessibility work: a standing, open collaboration between European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness project and the EDIC itself, so any European city can take part.
The half-day agenda (10:00–14:00 EEST) moves from technical standards to real-world practice to European strategy:
- 10:00 – 10:05: Meet and Greet and Project Introduction - Anna Wennblad, Project Leader at European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness project, Lindholmen Science Park
- 10:05 – 10:15: European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness project Demo of wayfinding with avatars and chatbots - Aki Kossi, Tech Lead at Younite AI
- 10:15 – 10:40: Economic potential of Universal Design in smart city technology & Bringing Universal Design functionalities to market -Loredana Gavrilescu, Business Development Lead at European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness project, Iceberg Plus
- 10:40 – 11:00: Key Note Speaker: The LDT CiTiVERSE EDIC: securing quality and trust through interoperability - Jan Wester, Director of the LDT CitiVERSE EDIC
- 11:00 – 11:10: Online coffee break
- 11:10 – 11:35: From barriers to access: Universal Design in smart city technology - Jenny Lindström Beijar, Inclusive User Research Lead at European Citiverses Uniting for Inclusiveness project, Founder of Our Normal Association
- 11:35 – 11:55: Integrating Standards for Geo Data and Accessibility in the Gothenburg Digital Twin - Eric Jeansson, Geo Data Strategist at City of Gothenburg
- 11:55 – 12:05: Online coffee break
- 12:05 – 12:40: Building intelligent systems with Digital Twins — Laura Olin, Chief Product Officer & Aki Kossi, Tech Lead at Younite AI
- 12:40 – 13:05: AI assistants and youth with neurodiversity: Design considerations for responsible, inclusive and supportive AI tools - Jenny Lindström Beijar
-13:05 – 13:15: Online coffee break
-13:15 – 13:30: Synthetic Societies: Modeling Human Behavior at Scale - Timmy Ghiurău, Co-Founder of The Point Labs/Midbrain
- 13:30 – 13:55: Roundtable on Collaborative & Sustainable City Solutions - Led by Claus Popp Larsen, Focus Area Leader for Connected Cities at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
- 13:55 – 14:00: Closing remarks by Anna Wennblad