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VR/AR Industrial Coalition: Industry-policy initiatives and support to the European VR/AR ecosystem

Conclusions of the fourth and sixth workshop organised by the Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) Industrial Coalition.

As announced in the Commission’s Media and Audiovisual Action Plan, the Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) Industrial Coalition is organising workshops with stakeholders from November 2021 to February 2022.

Participants from different segments of the VR/AR community got together on two different occasions to discuss existing and desired industry and policy actions needed to strengthen the European VR/AR ecosystem. Many possible actions, to be undertaken by policymakers, by the industry, or by both, have been identified in a variety of areas. Here are the most important. 1. Access to finance. 1.1. More public funding to be made available and more easily accessible, with more interconnections between national funding opportunities (policy). 1.2. More private funding on commercialisation of products and increased awareness among investors (industry). 2. Awareness-raising. 2.1. Create awareness of VR/AR across age groups and bridge gaps in gender behaviour (both). 2.2. Strategic approach towards common goal – raise awareness on benefits of technology (policy). 3. Business environment. 3.1. Focus on coalitions, collaborations, building bridges (industry). 3.2. Set up a networking framework to reduce ecosystem fragmentation (both). 3.3. Support the emergence of industry champions (both). 4. Ethical and environmentally sustainable applications. 4.1. Establish VR/AR ethics councils (both). 5. Education, skills, and digital literacy. 5.1. Decentralised educational platform (industry). 5.2. Bridging people with soft and hard skills in education (industry). 5.3. Education system focused on interdisciplinarity and enabling upskilling and reskilling (policy). 6. Infrastructure. 6.1. Need for EU platforms, which could lower costs and increase accessibility (industry). 7. Safety and security. 7.1. Understand users views and needs in security (industry). 8. Legal barriers and regulation. 8.1. Ensure equal access to data among all VR/AR players (policy) - Policy framework that makes sure EU common values are encouraged and user-centric (policy). 8.2. Define solid guidelines for data privacy and data ownership (policy). 8.3. Legislation and GDPR used to support European buyers and products (policy). 9. Technological development and accessibility. 9.1. Foster standardisation and adopt strategic thinking in terms of open data and VR/AR definitions (both).

Participants from different segments of the VR/AR community got together on two different occasions to discuss existing and desired industry and policy actions needed to strengthen the European VR/AR ecosystem.

The report indicates identified actions in a variety of areas, to be undertaken by policymakers, by the industry, or by both.

Learn more about the VR/AR Industrial Coalition and the subsequent workshops and report in our dedicated page.

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Visual report - 4th and 6th workshop
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Last update

30 January 2023

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