TwinTwente aims to redefine digital spatial planning
From fragmentation to federation: how Twente is launching an ambitious digital offensive against physical constraints like grid congestion.
Published on January 6, 2026
Bart, co-founder of Media52 and Professor of Journalism oversees IO+, events, and Laio. A journalist at heart, he keeps writing as many stories as possible.
The days when economic growth was primarily constrained by access to capital or labor are behind us. Today, the investment climate in the Netherlands is shaped by hard physical and infrastructure constraints: an overloaded power grid, stagnant housing construction, and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. In this new reality, data is no longer merely an optimization tool; it has become a fundamental prerequisite for spatial development.
Where traditional IT projects often get bogged down in technocratic complexity, the Twente region is taking a fundamentally different approach with the TwinTwente initiative. By placing governance and data sovereignty - not technology - at the center, the area is positioning itself as a testing ground for a European digital strategy. The goal is clear: to create a “One Shared Reality” that breaks through the fragmentation currently paralyzing the energy transition and housing development.
The logistical puzzle of the built environment
According to the initiative’s founders, the core problem in Dutch spatial planning is not a lack of data, but a lack of coherence. Municipalities, grid operators, construction companies, and water authorities often work with isolated datasets that do not communicate with one another. The result is inefficiency and costly delays in critical projects such as housing development and climate adaptation.
Launched as a Regio Deal in July 2025, TwinTwente directly addresses this market failure by developing a Regional Shared Point of Truth (SPoT) and a Common Workspace.
Unlike conventional smart city projects, which are often dependent on proprietary platforms from a single vendor, TwinTwente is building a federated model. Data remains at the source but is made accessible through open standards and modular connections. This is not an abstract IT exercise, but a necessary intervention to keep the physical region governable. The focus is on three urgent challenges: housing, grid capacity, and climate resilience. By integrating these domains into a single digital twin, stakeholders can simulate scenarios, such as the impact of a new residential area on the local power grid, before the first shovel hits the ground. This significantly reduces failure costs and accelerates decision-making.
A roadmap toward an operational data ecosystem
The rollout of TwinTwente follows a tightly orchestrated timeline that reflects the urgency of the challenge. Phase 1, running until February 2026, focuses on the “social contract”: establishing binding agreements on data sharing and selecting one to three urgent use cases with a frontrunner group of stakeholders. This phase is critical; it determines whether competing parties are willing to open their data silos for the collective good.
From February 2026 onward, the project moves into execution (Phase 2). Until July 2026, efforts will focus on developing a viable technical and financial plan, formally establishing the foundation, and configuring the Common Workspace.
Choosing a foundation as the legal entity is strategic. It ensures an independent body that governs the rules of the game, not the data itself. This “governance-first” principle distinguishes TwinTwente from earlier initiatives that often stalled due to mistrust over commercial data use. The involvement of the University of Twente, with its expertise in geoinformation and digital twins through faculties such as ITC and Engineering Technology, provides the scientific validation and technological robustness required to scale from pilot to standard.
Strategic autonomy and the European context
The relevance of TwinTwente extends far beyond the region. At a time when Europe is struggling with digital sovereignty, the Twente model offers a concrete alternative to dependence on non-European tech giants. By adhering to principles such as security by design, data sovereignty, and avoiding vendor lock-in, Twente is building an infrastructure aligned with European values of openness and public governance. This is essential for the Netherlands’ strategic autonomy.
If we allow the digital infrastructure of our cities and energy systems to be governed by closed platforms, we lose control over our own spatial development. TwinTwente, as a frontrunner in the broader TwinValley program, has the potential to serve as a blueprint for other European regions. Its success will not be measured solely by technical delivery in July, but by its ability to establish a new standard for how governments and companies share data. The following strategic step is therefore clear: scaling up—exporting the “Twente model” across the Netherlands and Europe to prevent a fragmented landscape of incompatible digital twins.