Virtual worlds test beds (DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-VIRTUAL-TESTBEDS-STEP)

  • Action type: DIGITAL-SIMPLE DIGITAL Simple Grants
  • Opening date: 4 November 2025
  • Closing time: 3 March 2026 17:00 (Europe/Brussels)
  • Budget per project: € 8 500 000
  • Estimated number of projects funded: 2
  • Project duration: 48-60 months
  • Official website

Scope

Expected Outcome:

  • Contributing to European digital sovereignty and open strategic autonomy in the domain of virtual worlds;
  • Contributing to development of innovative and interoperable virtual worlds solutions;
  • Contributing to the creation and promotion of EU regulatory sandboxes for virtual worlds.

Objective:

The main objective is to increase productivity and innovation capacity through state-of-the-art virtual worlds technologies. The Virtual worlds test beds will support testing, experimentation and integration of Virtual Worlds, immersive and extended reality technologies in specific sectors, targeting both industrial and societal applications.

The virtual worlds test beds will focus on testing and integrating mature technologies and solutions that have already been tested in the labs with the objective to be validated in real-world environments. They will also cover the aspects of interoperability and transferability between Virtual Worlds.

The Virtual worlds testbeds will seek to maximise the uptake of virtual worlds solutions in industrial and societal applications and boost competitiveness of the sectors they are applied.

Scope:

For this action, support to two world-class sectorial testbeds through two projects is envisaged: one for industrial applications (such as manufacturing, construction or industrial design) and one for societal applications (such as education and training, cultural heritage and other cultural experiences, public administration or healthcare). Each testbed should create a network of facilities with critical mass across at least three different Member States or associated countries.

Proposals are expected to focus on either industrial or societal applications. The area should be clearly identified within the proposal.

The test beds will provide all necessary expertise and infrastructure for the design and implementation of the testing methodologies, combining physical world and virtual worlds facilities.

Type of beneficiaries: Public or private entities, primarily focusing on Small Universities, SMEs and start-ups in the domain of Virtual Worlds.

Remarks

Simple Grants — 50% funding rate

 

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