The European Commission aims, with the newly launched European Partnership for Virtual Worlds, to foster synergies between industry, academia, research organisations and end-users to promote innovation in this prosperous field of research.
Virtual worlds are computer-generated immersive environments based on 3D and extended reality (XR) technologies, which enable people to interact, work, and create in new innovative ways.
The European Commission plans to invest up to €200 million in the European Partnership on Virtual Worlds. The 18 founding members of the Virtual Worlds Association (AISBL), led by Siemens, plan to match this investment with at least €200 million between 2025 and 2030.
European Partnerships are key funding instruments under Horizon Europe. They bring together the European Commission and private and/or public sector stakeholders to effectively address large scale challenges. So far, almost 100 European Partnerships across the following 6 areas have been launched:
- Climate, energy and mobility
- Culture, creativity and inclusive society
- Digital, industry and space
- Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment
- Health
- Partnerships across themes
All approx. 60 partnership programs in which institutions from Germany can participate are available via the following ERA-Learn database and can be filtered by additional criteria (e.g., partner countries): https://www.era-learn.eu/network-information/networks?l_participants=&el_type=&el_status=active&funding_framework=&societal_challenges=&research_fields=&coord=
Tap the link for more general information on European Partnerships under Horizon Europe: https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/european-partnerships-horizon-europe_en