At a glance
Collecting and disseminating geological and environmental data, modelling and simulating the subsurface, for open and more predictive geoscience
Given the growing role of the subsurface in societal issues, geoscience must be able to produce new scientific knowledge more effectively, provide reliable input for political choices and inform the public.
To achieve this, it is essential both to speed up the production and dissemination of scientific data and knowledge and to improve geoscience modelling and forecasting capabilities.
Drawing on technological and scientific advances in the field of digital technology, BRGM is changing the way it collects data on the subsurface and makes it available while developing models that reproduce the reality of underground space as faithfully as possible.
This transformation concerns both its scientific practices (automation, platforms, artificial intelligence) and the ways in which it interacts with society (digital twins, etc.), with particular attention being paid to issues of digital sobriety, sovereignty and ethics.
The aim of the "EaSy Data" national data warehouse is to centralise, organise and share the large quantity of so-called orphan data on the environment and the Earth system.
© BRGM
Strategic challenges
Transforming geoscience through digital technology
To meet the challenges posed by the subsurface in a rapidly changing world, it is essential to produce scientific knowledge more quickly and improve geoscience prediction capabilities.
This requires the ability to file all existing scientific knowledge and data and make it available, and to develop high-performance numerical models to exploit it.
As the subsurface moves to centre stage among today's societal challenges, geoscience must transform itself to incorporate new digital resources and methodologies and promote its open and reproducible development, to better inform political decisions and communicate on subsurface issues to society as a whole.
For several years now, BRGM, renowned for its geoscience databases and digital services, has been ensuring the sustainable management of its digital assets, in accordance with the principles of open science. Advances in data science and supercomputing now make it possible to run more complex and accurate simulations. To take full advantage of these methods, BRGM is pursuing its digital transition, both in its scientific approach and practices (automation, digital platforms, artificial intelligence, etc.) and in the way it interacts with society (e.g. the use of digital twins), while remaining attentive to the need for sober management of digital resources and to ethical and data sovereignty issues.
BRGM geoscientific databases and data dissemination websites.
© BRGM
Ambition
Help to develop more predictive and open geoscience
BRGM is already recognised as a national authority in the management of the geoscientific and environmental data cycle. Its ambition is to continue to play this leading role and to extend its influence throughout Europe. The aim is to contribute to the development of geoscience that is more global, more predictive, more integrative and more open and reproducible, in order to respond more effectively to the challenges facing society.
To achieve this, BRGM is:
- developing digital technology for and through science, by strengthening R&D in digital science (data science, computational science, e-infrastructure engineering, artificial intelligence, digital twins) to meet the specific needs of geoscience and the challenges facing society,
- working to capitalise on and disseminate data and codes more efficiently, in line with open science policies and major research infrastructures,
- pursuing the digital transformation of its scientific practices, producing scientific knowledge and promoting them in support of public policy and as commercial products.
BRGM's added value
- Knowledge, management and dissemination of many of the national databases on urban ground, the subsurface and its resources throughout the country.
- The ability to study and develop the entire life cycle of subsurface data, and knowledge of these data, the corresponding standards and appropriate processing algorithms.
- Dual expertise in digital science and geoscience, which can be mobilised across the R&D–expertise–innovation continuum, and experience in the use of related data.
- Expertise that has been recognised for many years, particularly by public authorities, in the development and operation of national or regional digital services (e.g. Géorisques portal, HubEau, etc.)
What kind of partnership initiatives?
Optimising the use of data to make it easier to share
- Adding value to subsurface data from public or private databases;
- Developing digital services and expert appraisal based on the cross-referencing of data.
Facilitating decision-making on projects involving the subsurface by better predicting the phenomena associated with their use
- Developing digital twins and decision support systems for the main subsurface application sectors, based on ground and subsurface models and data and related resources.
Improving the predictive power of resources according to subsurface uses by combining modelling technologies such as AI
- Developing predictive geoscience techniques for different types of applications (water resource management, natural hazards, crisis management support tools, etc.) by adapting computing science approaches, as well as machine learning and various artificial intelligence (AI) techniques.
Accelerating and securing the data lifecycle
- Developing modern and innovative digital engineering, by operating digital infrastructures (e.g. regional DataCentres), and by developing suitable work environments and digital services based on geoscience expertise.
