HARMONIE
Bettair joins the European HARMONIE project to advance digital twin technologies that help cities reduce pollution and protect public health
We are pleased to announce Bettair’s participation in HARMONIE (Health Assessment Refinement for Mitigating Noise and Air Quality Effects), a new European initiative coordinated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS). The project brings together 19 entities from eight countries to address one of today’s most pressing urban challenges: air and noise pollution.
As a technology partner, Bettair will play a key role in environmental monitoring, urban air quality modelling and advanced analysis, contributing essential components to the digital tools developed within the project.
A European initiative to support cleaner, healthier and more equitable cities
Urban air and noise pollution are silent threats affecting millions of Europeans every day. To help cities tackle this issue, HARMONIE aims to develop new digital twin tools that will:
- Improve the accuracy of air and noise pollution monitoring
- Assess short- and long-term health impacts
- Identify inequalities in exposure
- Simulate urban measures before they are implemented
Five pilot cities — Barcelona, Lausanne, Sarajevo, Gävle, and Barakaldo — as well as sev small towns in Barcelona Province will serve as real-world testbeds for scientific validation and policy innovation.
Two interconnected environments: real-world evidence and advanced digital simulations
HARMONIE operates across two complementary environments:
1. Pilot studies in real cities
The project will collect detailed data on air and noise pollution, including emerging indicators such as oxidative potential (OP), as well as mobility patterns, exposure and activity metrics and health indicators with a focus on vulnerable groups.
Bettair contributes by deploying its advanced environmental monitoring solutions and providing high-quality datasets essential for building accurate digital replicas of urban environments.
2. Digital twins for health and urban analysis
The collected data will feed into two complementary digital twin systems:
Lung Digital Twin (LDT)
A physiological model that simulates how pollutants move through and deposit in the human respiratory system, enabling analysis of inhaled dose, susceptibility and pathways leading to oxidative stress.
Simulation of pollutant deposition in the Lung Digital Twin – HARMONIE project.
🔹 Citizen-Centric Digital Twin (CCDT)
An urban-scale digital twin that integrates pollution mapping, mobility dynamics, social behaviour and exposure modelling.
It’s What-If simulation capability allows policymakers to test and compare potential measures in a safe, data-driven environment.
Bettair plays an important role in supporting CCDT through its Air Quality Mapping technology and AI-enhanced modelling, which generate high-resolution urban pollution maps while significantly reducing computational load.
Bettair’s role within the consortium
Within the consortium of 19 partners, Bettair contributes technological capabilities that are central to HARMONIE’s objectives:
- Deployment and operation of environmental monitoring systems in pilot cities
- Mapping emission at micro-urban level based on wind dynamics, complex chemical interactions and air quality monitoring information.
- Integration of data streams into the digital twin frameworks
These contributions, detailed in the project proposal, position Bettair as one of the key technological providers enabling accurate data-driven assessments in HARMONIE.
A strong international consortium
HARMONIE brings together leading European institutions including:
BSC, University of Deusto, Bettair Cities SL, CSIC, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, University of Bristol, Factual Consulting, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, UPF, Swiss TPH, Unisanté – University of Lausanne, Air Quality Consultants, City of Sarajevo, University of Gävle, Diputació de Barcelona, Barakaldo Municipality, University of Nova Gorica, University of Basel, and the Lausanne Municipality.
HARMONIE consortium during the project’s kick-off meeting at BSC facilities ( Repsol Building)
A shared vision: placing health at the centre of urban decision-making
As Beatriz Eguzkitza, project coordinator at BSC, stated:
“Health should be a priority in any urban planning and not be left exclusively to the medical profession. Putting health at the centre of urban decisions drives measures that reduce pollution, enhance well-being and contribute to more resilient, equitable and sustainable cities.”
At Bettair, we fully share this vision and believe that the next generation of digital tools will be crucial in creating healthier and more equitable cities.
Funding acknowledgment
The HARMONIE project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under grant agreement No 101238943.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.