Programme

JUNON: digital twins working for natural resources

The JUNON programme, led by BRGM, is part of the regional “Centre-Val de Loire Ambition Research Development” scheme. This ambitious programme to develop a digital centre for research on the continental environment (agricultural, urban, forests and rivers) in the Centre-Val de Loire region aims to design digital services to improve monitoring and understanding of the environment, for better management of natural resources.

7 December 2022

Digital twin of the Vienna underground. The U2 and U4 lines intersecting at the Pilgramgasse station have turned it into a major public transport hub.

Objectives and needs

At a time of digital and environmental transition, the Centre-Val de Loire Region and its partners have set their sights on creating a unique and innovative digital centre dedicated to the environment and the management of natural resources. The culmination of this project is the development of digital twins for water, ground and air using the latest developments in artificial intelligence.

Digital twins allow real structures and processes to be modelled throughout their evolution, by harnessing machine learning techniques. These virtual reproductions are built through a learning process that requires large amounts of data and relies on expertise in environmental metrology.

The JUNON programme is part of the regional “Centre-Val de Loire Ambition Research and Development” scheme, and is a continuation of the ARD PIVOTS programme from 2016 to 2020, which created a set of 7 experimental platforms on the Orleans campus dedicated to environmental monitoring and metrology and remediation of various anthropogenic environmental compartments (subsurface/ground/water/air). It also follows on from the CPER CONEX programme to upgrade connectivity for access to scientific data.

JUNON brings together some 20 research teams for a total budget of over €12 million, financing ten collaborative projects working together to:

create and operate new digital twins,
establish new public and commercial services to manage our natural resources in a more sustainable way.

Key figures

Budget

12.30

million euros
10.00

collaborative projects
Duration of the project

5.00

years

Logo of the ARD JUNON programme

Expected results

The main objective of JUNON is the creation of a digital research centre on the continental environment (agricultural, urban, forests and rivers), including each stage of the critical zone, and dedicated to research and innovation on all the links of the value chain from environmental sensors to the digital twins of the plain.

This centre will enable the implementation of digital service bricks to improve the monitoring, prediction and understanding of our environment for better management of natural resources. This notion of service is fundamental for the centre because it will perpetuate the research activities to be initiated in JUNON.

BRGM sees in these developments the possibility of generating substantial added value to its research services through the creation of powerful predictive models that will be a differentiating factor for innovation and development of the local industrial fabric. This very ambitious project also represents a major strategic factor for the deployment of new digital technologies in the region. It should expand the dissemination of BRGM's expertise in metrology and environmental resource management in France and abroad.

BRGM's role

In addition to coordinating the programme, BRGM's participation enables it to support the consortium thanks to its recognised expertise in the study, experimentation and modelling of reactions and transfers taking place in the ground and subsurface.

In addition, BRGM is drawing on its know-how in the development and administration of environmental databases to support the consortium with respect to interoperability and data management.

Project co-financed by the Centre-Val de Loire Region.

The “Centre-Val de Loire Ambition Research Development” scheme

Since 2014, the Centre-Val de Loire Region has been consolidating its research and development skills, with one goal in mind: to provide new responses to meet the major challenges of socio-economic development and the climate and environmental emergency, for the benefit of the region's inhabitants and businesses. As part of this approach, the Region has set up the “Centre-Val de Loire Ambition Research Development” (ARD CVL) scheme. JUNON is part of the ARD programmes funded by the Centre-Val de Loire Region.

Find out more about the project