Developing and demonstrating core technologies for Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0 (IA) (Virtual worlds Partnership)
Scope and expected outcomes
Expected Outcome:
Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
eXtended Reality (XR), immersive and interactive technologies that bring full integration of Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0 technologies to the next level.
The objective is to pave the way for the next generation of virtual worlds, enhancing immersive visualisation and interaction experience, immersing users at the centre of the Virtual Worlds applications, enabling seamless interaction and data exchange
The next generation of Virtual Worlds technologies will propose a deeper and closer-to-reality immersion, stimulating all senses to accurately capture and interpret user movements and environmental data, while providing realistic multi-modal tactile and kinesthetic haptic and force-feedback, retroactions for engaging and lifelike experiences. Real-time user interactions should be favoured by minimizing latency, increasing responsiveness and naturalness of interactions. The developed technologies will also dynamically respond to users’ inputs and environmental changes.
Scope:
Proposals will focus on and address the following:
Asset and scene creation technology evolving in parallel to enable the generation of a human-centric, highly detailed and realistic environments to interact with,
Use of Generative AI for more personalised and natural experiences,
Visualisation and interaction through innovative immersive technologies to enhance the user experience through a seamless, inclusive and immersive involvement,
Full integration and interoperability of XR and immersive domains and applications (including e.g. Digital Twins),
Integration of XR applications and components with Telco-Cloud-to-Edge Continuum components, addressing challenges related to resource availability and reliability, while also balancing the requirements of rapid response time, spatial computing, contextual awareness and smart network functions.
The proposals should also advance on the development of technological standards, common data formats and protocols that would enable real-time, seamless and intuitive user-interaction and exchange of information between different systems and platforms in the future, as stepping stones towards Web 4.0.
This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.
Proposals will include demonstrators of the developed technologies in real-world scenarios, illustrating the usefulness and efficiency of emerging technologies in Virtual Worlds in illustrative scenarios in the industrial and societal contexts, exploiting the Telco-Cloud-to-Edge Continuum and the 3C pilots on converged Telco Edge Cloud Infrastructure.
Proposals should demonstrate future synergies, provisions for future collaboration, and complementarity with other relevant actions carried out under call HORIZON-CL4-2027-04-DATA-08: Demand-side 3C pilot demonstrators on converged Telco Edge Cloud Infrastructure. We consider that proposals with an overall duration of typically 36 months would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other durations.
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Virtual Worlds.
Conditions
General conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
Described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible Countries
Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, and security, it is important to avoid a situation of technological dependency on a non-EU source, in a global context that requires the EU to take action to build on its strengths, and to carefully assess and address any strategic weaknesses, vulnerabilities and high-risk dependencies which put at risk the attainment of its ambitions. For this reason, participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States, Iceland and Norway and the following additional associated countries: Canada, Israel, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In addition, entities established in third countries which may become associated to Horizon Europe during 2026 and 2027 may be eligible to participate in this topic if the third country is identified for this topic as an eligible country in the List of Participating Countries in Horizon Europe at the time of submission of the application[[See the List of Participating Countries in Horizon Europe available at https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/list-3rd-country-participation_horizon-euratom_en.pdf.]]. In any case, the association agreement to the Programme must apply by the time of the signature of the grant agreement.
For the duly justified and exceptional reasons listed in the paragraph above, in order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, entities established in an eligible country listed above, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, may not participate in the action unless it can be demonstrated, by means of guarantees positively assessed by their eligible country of establishment, that their participation to the action would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security. Entities assessed as high-risk suppliers of mobile network communication equipment within the meaning of ‘restrictions for the protection of European communication networks’ (or entities fully or partially owned or controlled by a high-risk supplier) cannot submit guarantees.[[ The guarantees shall in particular substantiate that, for the purpose of the action, measures are in place to ensure that: a) control over the applicant legal entity is not exercised in a manner that retrains or restricts its ability to carry out the action and to deliver results, that imposes restrictions concerning its infrastructure, facilities, assets, resources, intellectual property or know-how needed for the purpose of the action, or that undermines its capabilities and standards necessary to carry out the action; b) access by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity to sensitive information relating to the action is prevented; and the employees or other persons involved in the action have a national security clearance issued by an eligible country, where appropriate; c) ownership of the intellectual property arising from, and the results of, the action remain within the recipient during and after completion of the action, are not subject to control or restrictions by non-eligible countries or non-eligible country entity, and are not exported outside the eligible countries, nor is access to them from outside the eligible countries granted, without the approval of the eligible country in which the legal entity is established.]]
Described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
Described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5a. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
5b. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
Described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
Described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Specific conditions
described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Application and evaluation forms and model grant agreement (MGA):
Application form templates— the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
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