A wide-ranging project that aims to create a network to bring together developers and financiers
The technologies that we indicate as XR (X Reality or Cross Reality) have now reached a level of reliability such as to strongly attract the interest of many fields of research.
As it was possible to ascertain also within the Maker Faire Rome – the European Edition 2019, augmented reality and virtual reality (to cite perhaps the most well-known applications) are increasingly influencing the way in which people interact and exchange information.
And yet at the European level, the organizations, institutions, and companies that deal with it work independently and disconnected, not being able to count on a real community that allows them to interact, collaborate, and create unique opportunities.
Precisely for this purpose, the European Commission has created XR4all, an initiative co-financed by Horizon 2020, the European research and innovation program created to strengthen and accelerate the growth of the European industry oriented toward XR and immersive technologies.
The program involves the construction of a real European XR community through a common development platform. Within it, developers (whether they are businesses, SMEs, research institutes or universities) will be able to exchange ideas, information, and visions of the future but also more concretely undertake collaborative projects.
In addition to communication between development agencies, the project aims to create a sort of showcase (the XR Solutions Catalog) of the various European research projects with the aim of attracting external investors and bringing lifeblood to this increasingly promising market.
Furthermore, on the subject of investments, XR4all also provides for the allocation of a total of $1.6 million USD (€1.5 million EUR) to XR development projects.
After the submission of applications for admission, which will take place on four deadline dates from 29 November 2019 to 31 July 2020, the developers will have access to the selection to win up to $55,000 USD (€50,000 EUR) in funding, which will support them until a working version of the solution proposed in the planning phase has been created.
As events like the Maker Faire Rome confirm, which every year manages to bring hundreds of makers from all over the world into contact, the community spirit and the continuous exchange of ideas are important for the birth and growth of projects, from the simplest to the most visionary ones. The XR4all call for financing has exactly the same noble purpose.
