On Thursday afternoon, October 30, from 12:00 to 16:00, HKV is organizing a DigiShape meeting in Lelystad. We cover two current themes: AI Arena and AI Agents. Both are promising developments that we expect to be widely applied in the future. Right now we are at the beginning of shaping this sector-wide – this is the time to join in and help determine the direction we take together.

The language of the day is English. During the discussions you can safely switch to Dutch, we will make sure that everything is translated on the spot, so that it will be a fun and open afternoon for everyone.

AI Arena
AI models offer promising opportunities, but also raise questions: Can we trust their outcomes? How do they compare to traditional models? And what does this mean for the practice of flood risk management and operational water management?

DigiShape wants to develop an AI arena for this purpose: an experimental environment in which historical and real-time data from AI and traditional models are juxtaposed. This allows us to compare scenarios directly and work together to improve applications such as water level predictions and dike strength estimates.

AI Agents

In addition, we will discuss the rise of AI agents – digital colleagues who provide insight into complex processes and offer explanations in understandable language. Such agents are rapidly gaining ground, because unlike general language models such as ChatGPT and Copilot, they do make the link with internal data sources, water-specific tools and information portals that make the difference in daily implementation.

That is why it is important that the water sector itself takes the initiative. By enriching generic AI technology with domain knowledge, ‘Delta Agents’ are created: digital colleagues who really understand Dutch water management and work together with specialists to make their work smarter and more effective.

Why participate?

Both the AI arena and the AI Agents are at the beginning of their development. Especially now it is important to determine together what is necessary and valuable. This is only possible by combining the knowledge and experience of a wide variety of parties – from companies and knowledge institutions to the end users in the field: the water boards.

During the meeting on 30 October, you will have the opportunity to give direction to these developments with your practical questions and ideas and to contribute to solutions that are applicable and usable across the sector.

Program

12:00: Lunch and reception

13:00 – 13:15: Welcome – Sophie de Roda Husman

13:15 – 13:35: Improving internal knowledge access at Hoogwaterbeschermingsprogramma (HWBP) with AI Agents – Cees Oerlemans

13:35 – 13:55: Development and application of LLMs-based tools and agents at Deltares– Jing Deng

13:55 – 14:15: Development of AI Agents within Van Oord – Ignacio Quintanilla Rojas

14:15 – 14:35: Demonstration of Talk-With-FEWS – Mattijn van Hoek

14:35 – 14:45: Coffee break

14:45 – 15:45: Brainstorming sessions

For the brainstorm, we will split into two groups. You’re free to join the session of your choice.

1. The first session will focus on AI agents. How to make them work together more seamlessly, what kinds of information they should be able to use or “talk to” (e.g. drawings, configurations, data), and how to advance AI agent development in the water sector while continuing collaboration beyond this DigiShape Day.
2. The second session will focus on the DigiShape arena. An experimental environment where historical and real-time data from AI and traditional models can be compared side by side. This will allow us to directly evaluate scenarios and improve applications such as water level forecasting and dike strength assessment. Join the discussion on how we can develop this arena together.

15:45 – 16:00: Wrap-up

From 16:00: Drinks and snacks