Interactive technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) (Both together and other interactive technologies Referred as eXtended Reality – XR hereinafter in the document) are set to transform the ways in which people communicate, interact and share information on the internet and beyond. The industry is now at a stage where after years of research and development, it has reached a point where technology is accessible and allows large-scale market introduction. Every day, new XR applications emerge, new start-ups, increased investment, and they all build on the growing expectation of what VR & AR technologies can offer. XR is set to directly impact a larger number of European industries ranging from the cultural and creative industries, manufacturing, robotic and healthcare to education, entertainment and media, enabling new business opportunities
However, the European XR scene is fragmented and there is a risk that big US companies dominate the XR market (what they are already doing B2C).
XR4ALL ambitions to forge a competitive and sustainable ecosystem of European technology providers and users by pursuing the following objectives:
i) Establishing a well governed XR community and an XR forum within the community where intense dialogue and knowledge sharing takes place to strengthen the collaboration among the different stakeholders and act as the voice of the XR industry in Europe;
ii) Building a platform to gather and share knowledge, algorithms and tools for the development and use of new interactive technologies solutions;
iii) Launching an open call to attract, select XR tools developers in view of creating new tools and integrating them in the platform;
iv) Elaborating a common research agenda and fostering technology transfer and
v) Providing technical and financial support to third parties to develop their solutions and tools; resulting in a unique access point for innovators, SMEs and industrial companies interested in taking-up European XR technologies in their product and services.
All activities are carried out by a consortium of 5 partners with complementary expertise: Coordinator Fraunhofer HHI (XR research), EUN (cascading funding management, access to market and industry users), I3D (10 years of XR community building and events organisation), BCOM (XR platform building and integration) and LucidWeb (XR communication and community building with a strong focus on women in XR).
