TWINVERSE held its first in-person kick-off meeting in Turin, bringing together 26 partners and 6 cities, the project’s 5 Mission Cities and Turin, for two days of collaboration and co-design.

The meeting marked the formal start of a project built around a question: what if cities could test climate solutions before implementing them in the real world, and what if they didn’t just survive shocks but grew stronger from them? Over the course of the General Assembly, city planners, AI researchers, technology providers and innovation actors aligned around that shared goal, building antifragile, climate-neutral cities using AI-enhanced digital twins.

A central part of the two days was co-design in practice. Rather than simply discussing citizen needs in the abstract, partners began designing tools directly with local input in mind, laying the groundwork for solutions built around what cities like Milan, Cork and Kalamata actually need on the ground.

Partners also explored how digital twins, AI and federated data spaces will connect into what the project calls its constellation, a network where cities can share insights securely without losing control of their own data.

“It’s the diversity of perspectives, cities, research centres, technology providers and innovation actors, that makes this consortium so powerful,” said Dr. Claudio Rossi, program manager at LINKS foundation and TWINVERSE’s coordinator.

The kick-off meeting sets the direction for the next phase of the project, as partners move from shared vision to the first AI-powered tools and pilots across the six cities.