Virtual Worlds Association SRIA

Virtual Worlds Association Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (June 2025)

AI Acknowledgement The content has been provided by the Virtual and Augmented Reality Industrial Coalition. The content has been summarised using AI technologies, and validated by a human author.

The Virtual Worlds Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) 2025 defines a comprehensive, human-centric trajectory for Europe's immersive technology ecosystem. It outlines key applications across seven vertical sectors, identifies six technical and five socio-economic challenge domains, and provides a multi-horizon scientific roadmap to establish European strategic autonomy, technological leadership, and digital sovereignty.

Aligned with the European Commission’s Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds strategy, the agenda establishes a values-driven framework where privacy, inclusivity, transparency, and accessibility are embedded directly into hardware and software design.

1.1 Basic Identification

• Full SRIDA/SRIA Title & Version: Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda: Solving Real World Problems (v1.0, June 2025)
• Publication / Last Update Date: June 2025
• Editors: Theo Papadopoulos (Siemens), Matthieu Worm (Siemens)
• Website / Source: https://www.virtualworldsassociation.eu/actions/strategic-research-innovation-agenda-virtual-worlds-eu

1.2 Objectives and strategic outline

Vision Statement

To establish a human-centric European Virtual Worlds ecosystem that seamlessly blends physical and digital realities to solve real-world problems. Consumers experience unparalleled engagement and personalisation; workers benefit from enhanced, cross-border collaboration with Digital Twins; and public services are streamlined for accessibility, efficiency, and social inclusion. This pursuit of digital strategic autonomy ensures that European values of privacy, transparency, and inclusivity are embedded by design, preventing reliance on external actors and fostering an open, ethically sound digital future.

Core Mission / Objectives (6 Key Missions)

1. Solving Real-World Problems: Drive the practical deployment of Virtual Worlds (VW) across industry, healthcare, education, arts, public administration, and security.
2. Achieving Technological Autonomy: Mitigate dependency on non-European providers by developing core European components across the full XR value chain (processors, optics, software).
3. Native Accessibility and Inclusion: Guarantee universal access to VW for people of all abilities, cultures, and languages, actively bridging the digital divide.
4. Ethics, Safety, and Trust by Design: Establish robust frameworks for privacy-preserving sensing, explainable AI (XAI), and child-safe virtual spaces.
5. Interoperable Standards and Portability: Drive global standardization for avatar portability, digital asset ownership, and secure decentralized data sharing.
6. Co-Creation and Capacity Building: Empower European creators, SMEs, and researchers through multidisciplinary training, collaborative platforms, and open-source toolkits.

Policy Alignment

• European Commission Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds Strategy (July 2023): Core strategic framework driving industrial ecosystems, public sector applications (CitiVerse, Local Digital Twins), and global governance.
• Horizon Europe Cluster 4 (Digital, Industry and Space): Anchor funding programme, supporting initiatives like GenAI4EU and Core Technologies for Virtual Worlds.
• Digital Decade Policy Programme 2030: Aligned with European targets for advanced digital skills, secure infrastructures, digital public services, and business transition.
• European Legislative Framework: Strictly aligned with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act), Data Act, Data Governance Act, Digital Services Act (DSA), and Digital Markets Act (DMA).
• The European Green Deal: Leveraging VW to optimize logistics, reduce material prototyping waste, and foster ecological awareness.

1.3 Technological & Thematic Priorities

The Virtual Worlds SRIA structures its research and innovation actions across three main thematic pillars, supported by context-enabling disciplines:

Pillar	Domain / Chapter	Key Research and Innovation Objectives
Pillar 1: Applications in Key Sectors	1a. Industry & Logistics	Standardized Digital Twins (DT); rapid prototyping with collaborative design; Virtual Factory Integration; intralogistics fleet management; collaborative remote maintenance.
	1b. Healthcare & Well-being	Personalized clinical care with Patient DTs; European Virtual Human Twin; real-time intraoperative surgical assistance; XR-supported rehabilitation; special education therapies.
	1c. Media & Entertainment	AI-driven virtual production; real-time volumetric media and avatar presence; Open XR stage tracking; immersive interactive events; secure, decentralized media licensing.
	1d. Arts & Culture	User-centred museum XR experiences; performing arts in virtual spaces; digital archiving of cultural events; virtual cultural tourism; documentation of intangible cultural heritage.
	1e. Education & Training	Immersive classrooms; vocational training; adaptive training for high-risk technical professions; teacher professional development; AI-tutor adaptive support.
	1f. Security & Defence	Persistent military/civil protection training; immersive mission planning; ruggedized on-field operational assistance; real-time biofeedback stress modeling; technological autonomy.
	1g. Cities & Public Administration	City-scale DTs (CitiVerse); Local Digital Twins; virtual city halls for civic services; AI-driven urban decision support; public outreach and georeferenced visualisations.
Pillar 2: Technical Outlook & Challenges	2a. Visualisation, Sensing & Immersion	Foveated display, Micro-OLED/MicroLED light engines; flat optics/metasurfaces; vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC) mitigation; privacy-aware sensing; multi-sensory feedback (haptic, spatial audio, olfaction).
	2b. Real-Time User Interaction	Whole-body sensor fusion; runtime interoperability (OpenXR, WebXR); spatial computing mapping; avatar embodiment standards; cognitive load optimization; Living Labs testing.
	2c. Authoring & Experience Design	European dedicated XR engines; low-code/no-code creator empowerment; collaborative 3D scene versioning; human-AI co-editing; context-aware dynamic adaptation.
	2d. Standardisation & Interoperability	European Interoperability Framework (EIF) alignment; common data formats; Asset Administration Shell (AAS) standardization; federated identity; digital asset ownership schemas.
	2e. Digital Twins, Assets & People	Model Order Reduction (MOR); Uncertainty Quantification (UQ); automated NeRF/Gaussian Splatting reconstruction; human DT modeling; marker-less motion capture; DevOps for DTs.
	2f. Applied AI for Virtual Worlds	Multi-modal LLMs and foundational models; On-device edge AI inference; federated learning; physics-informed neural networks; conversational NPCs; multi-agent coordination.
Pillar 3: Socio-Economic Outlook & Challenges	3a. Human Rights, Safety & Values	Bridging the digital divide; native accessibility guidelines (XR WCAG equivalent); diverse avatar representation; GDPR-compliant minor protection; safety-by-design (blocking/safety bubbles).
	3b. Governance & Law Enforcement	Harmonised borderless legal frameworks; co-regulation models; multi-stakeholder governance pilots; 3D forensic evidence capture; Selective Traceability in pseudonymous worlds.
	3c. Economics & Innovation	Data monetisation redistribution (data dividends); royalty mechanisms for 3D creators; hardware affordability; legal frameworks for IP/trademark validity in co-creation ecosystems.
	3d. Sustainability, Health & Environment	Hardware circular economy; software eco-conception (DRY, micro-coding); real-time footprint monitoring; ergonomic XR visual health clinical trials; technostress mitigation.
	3e. Trust & Human Oversight	Explainable AI (XAI) tailored for 3D/AR; independent platform algorithmic auditing; AI-generated content labeling (deepfake detection); codes of conduct against dark patterns.

Scientific Roadmap: Three Horizons of Technological Development

• Short-term Technological Developments (3-5 Years): Development of ergonomic, lightweight XR hardware with adaptive systems to mitigate motion sickness; rollout of accessible no-code/low-code authoring tools; AI-assisted moderation and generative content creation tools; adaptive governance frameworks (GDPR, AI Act, Data Act compliance); adoption of interoperable standards for DTs and cross-platform VW experiences.
• Mid-term Technological Developments (5-7 Years): Advanced XR devices integrating improved optical systems with rich multisensory feedback; deployment of scalable, cloud-edge distributed infrastructures; human-centric AI interactions via context-aware virtual avatars; establishment of transparent, explainable AI (XAI) and ethics-by-design authoring pipelines.
• Long-term Technological Developments (7-10 Years): Next-generation brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) for seamless neural input; device-free interaction with bio-integrated sensors; adaptive, self-evolving AI models utilizing decentralized edge networks; environmental sustainability integration with circular economy models for XR hardware; and impact-based green funding frameworks.

1.4 Building-Block Crosswalk (EC Staff Working Document Alignment)

The Virtual Worlds SRIA priorities align precisely with the European Commission's technical building blocks:

EC Technical Building Block	Virtual Worlds SRIA Alignment & Chapter Focus
Cloud–Edge–IoT Continuum	Distributed intelligence architectures, on-device edge AI inference (2f.4, 2f.6), and scalable cloud-edge middleware for distributed rendering (2c.8).
Artificial Intelligence & ML	Core of Pillar 2f (Applied AI), including generative models for 3D content, conversational NPCs, and multi-modal scene analysis.
High-Performance Computing (HPC)	Compute-intensive spatial mapping, high-speed networks, and real-time physical rendering (2b.6), utilizing EuroHPC AI Factories.
Data Spaces & Interoperability	Secure decentralized data sharing frameworks (2d.6) aligned with Manufacturing-X, common European Health Data Spaces, and Common European Data Spaces for Cultural Heritage.
Digital Identity & Trust Frameworks	Trust and human oversight (Pillar 3e), decentralized self-sovereign identity (SSI) models, and eIDAS-aligned avatar authentication (2d.13, 2d.15).
Extended Reality (XR)	Core visualization hardware (2a), whole-body sensor interaction (2b), and EU-sovereign authoring platforms (2c).
Digital Twins	Pillar 2e (Digital Twins, Assets & People), encompassing Model Order Reduction, DevOps for continuous validation, and the European Virtual Human Twin.
Standards & Interoperability	Pillar 2d, European Interoperability Framework (EIF) layered model, glTF/OpenXR adoption, and Asset Administration Shell (AAS) standardization.
Human–Machine Collaboration	Whole human-body HCCI interfaces (2b.1), multimodal haptics (2a.16), and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs).
Security & Compliance	Co-regulatory platform frameworks (3b.4), robust cybersecurity compliance (NIS2, Cyber Resilience Act) (3a.19), and compliance-by-design authoring tools.

1.5 Governance & Ecosystem

• Leading Organisations / Associations: Co-programmed Horizon Europe Partnership on Virtual Worlds, backed by the Virtual and Augmented Reality Industrial Coalition.
• Ecosystem Stakeholders: 3,700+ European XR actors, including major industrial enterprises, SMEs, individual content creators, artists, universities, and research institutes.
• Coordinating EU Initiatives: High-level coordination with the Big Data Value Association (BDVA), AI, Data and Robotics Association (ADRA), Smart Networks and Services JU (6G-IA), and Photonics21.
• Engagement Mechanisms: Distributed "Virtual World Labs" acting as a European Cultural XR Infrastructure; multi-stakeholder governance bodies; European Citizens' Panels; legal sandboxes for urban and public administrative testing.
• Update Frequency: Triennial (aligned with Horizon Europe Work Programme planning cycles).