ThermoNET

Digital Green Assessment, Urban Digital Twin, Organisational Resilience, Cybersecurity and AI for Sustainable Cities

ThermoNET is an integrated programme promoted by PARSEC 3.26 within the framework of the Apulia Regional Programme ERDF-ESF 2021–2027. It was created to support Public Administrations in their ecological and digital transition and includes research and development activities exploring advanced technologies for the management of territories, data and digital public services.

The project takes its name from the ThermoNET platform, developed by PARSEC for the management of heating system registries. The experience gained in this field has led us to broaden our focus towards new digital solutions capable of supporting public administrations in addressing the challenges of environmental sustainability, digital transformation and urban resilience.

Today, the programme promotes an innovation ecosystem integrating Cloud Computing, Urban Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence, the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cybersecurity, with the aim of making cities smarter, more sustainable, safer and increasingly data-driven. The initiative also contributes to the development of the Smart Sustainability Competence Centre, dedicated to research, experimentation and technology transfer to the public sector.

Digital Tools for a More Effective Public Administration

THERMONET develops platforms and methodologies that enable public bodies to integrate and enhance environmental, energy and territorial data, improving their ability to plan, monitor and manage urban processes and phenomena.

Research Areas

THERMONET integrates multidisciplinary expertise in the following areas:

• cloud-native platforms and microservices architectures;
• digital services eligible for qualification for use by Public Administrations;
• Urban Digital Twins and territorial data integration;
• Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision and Generative AI;
• IoT and edge computing for environmental monitoring;
• cybersecurity and secure management of the software and data lifecycle;
• automation of regulatory compliance processes, software quality control and vulnerability management according to DevSecOps principles;
• Business Continuity and organisational resilience.

The R&D activities are supported by laboratories and research teams from the Department of Innovation Engineering at the University of Salento.

Through its research strands, the programme is structured into several thematic areas.

The IoT research strand, starting from the exploration of automated sensing technologies applied to smart cities, has led us to examine the principles of Urban Digital Twins. It currently focuses on dynamic digital representations of territories designed to support environmental monitoring and environmental quality analysis, sustainable territorial planning, and the simulation of urban resilience scenarios. The aim is to promote data-driven decision-making processes and improve the efficiency and quality of public services.

The Regulation research strand focuses on regulatory compliance from a cybersecurity perspective. One of THERMONET’s main areas of innovation concerns the design of secure, reliable digital services that comply with the latest regulatory requirements applicable to Public Administrations.

Starting from the Three-Year Plan for Digital Public Administration, this R&D strand explores key topics including:

• security and qualification of cloud services intended for Public Administrations;
• software development based on DevSecOps models;
• Security by Design and Security by Default principles;
• protection of data, infrastructure and digital services;
• interoperability and compliance with national guidelines.

This R&D strand tests and validates integrated secure development processes based on the automation of software quality controls, vulnerability analysis, access management and activity traceability throughout the entire development process.
These practices make it possible to integrate security directly into software development and deployment pipelines, reducing verification times, operational risks and compliance costs.

For public bodies, this means being able to rely on solutions designed to ensure business continuity, information protection and the reliability of digital services, all of which are now essential elements of the digital transformation of Public Administration.

The Business Continuity research strand aims to support public bodies in achieving an effective digital transformation, while exploring organisational resilience and Agile transformation principles that can also contribute to improving internal processes. These methodological elements are now essential for managing uncertainty and change at every organisational level.

The AI Boosting research strand explores the opportunities offered by Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Generative AI and AI agents, as well as their use in enhancing the digital processes of Public Administration.
It is particularly important to approach these technologies while taking into account the specific characteristics of the public sector, enabling their adoption in compliance with current legislation and in accordance with national and European best practices.
This R&D strand also benefits from the contribution of the innovative partner company Reco 3.26 (https://www.reco326.com/en/).

Benefits for Public Administration

Through this R&D programme, PARSEC develops technologies that help Local Authorities to:

• make more informed decisions through integrated data analysis;
• improve environmental monitoring and territorial management;
• increase the efficiency, quality and interoperability of digital services;
• reduce operational and cybersecurity risks by integrating security controls throughout the software and data lifecycle;
• strengthen the security and resilience of digital infrastructure and demonstrate regulatory compliance and the security of digital services;
• achieve greater transparency, traceability and governance of ICT processes, while benefiting from development and deployment processes for new digital services based on DevSecOps practices and automated controls;
• address urban and climate sustainability challenges more effectively.

THERMONET interprets digital transformation as a process in which innovation, sustainability, agility and cybersecurity contribute jointly to building more efficient public administrations, more resilient cities and safer public services for citizens and territories.