Competition within the XR industry is fierce and ever-growing, so trying to get an idea off the ground generally requires an external investment of some sort. There are various avenues startup companies can pursue and now the European Commission is providing another. XR4ALL is an initiative to strengthen the European Immersive Technologies Industry, and it has €1.5 million EUR to distribute to successful applicants.
Co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, VR4ALL aims to provide support to European organisations involved the XR industry, whether they’re a startup, SME, industry, research institution, or academia. If you’re based in Europe (or meet the initiative’s other stipulations) and are working on an XR solution you’re welcome to apply.
Projects selected through the open call are able to receive a maximum of €50,000 by undergoing two support phases with specific deliverables. Once completed projects will receive €10,000 for phase 1 and €40,000 for phase two. Their specifics are as follows:
- Phase1 – Concept validation (2 months): Projects in this phase need to better define and validate their concept from a business and a technical perspective. The funding for this phase is € 10,000 as a lump sum. Only the projects who timely submitted the required deliverables for this phase and evaluated with sufficient quality will receive the corresponding funding.
Based on the evaluation at the end of the first phase, only the best-rated projects will be admitted in the second phase and therefore be able to develop the proposed solution. We expect to fund up to 50 projects in phase 1 from which, up to 25 projects will be admitted in phase2. Each of these projects will enter the first phase through a selection after one of the 4 cut-off dates. - Phase 2 – Development and integration (4 months): Projects admitted in this phase will undertake to develop a working version of the proposed solution, a tested Minimum Viable Product. Further, the developed solutions or a limited functionality version will be promoted on the XR solutions catalogue. The funding for this phase is € 40,000 as a lump sum. Only the projects who timely submitted the required deliverables and evaluated with sufficient quality will receive the corresponding funding.
If you’re interested in applying then there are four cut-off dates, 31/10/2019; 31/01/2020; 30/04/2020 and 31/07/2020 all at 5 pm CEST. For further info and to apply, head to the official VR4ALL website. For further updates on the latest funding initiatives, keep reading VRFocus.
