Roadmap for Open and Co-created Virtual Worlds

Welcome to the OPENVERSE Roadmap! The European Commission aims to build a Web 4.0 and virtual worlds that reflect EU values, protect fundamental rights, and ensure our businesses can scale globally.

To turn this vision into reality, we need your expertise. The inputs and feedback collected on this page before 30 April 2026 will not just sit in a report—they will directly set the agenda for the Second Policy Workshop in Brussels in June 2026.

How to Contribute

We want to hear from makers, service providers, policy-makers, and researchers.

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Click the "Discuss" link next to the Pillar or Key Action you want to weigh in on.
Click "Edit" at the top of the Talk Page.
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The "Actionability Check": What We Need From You

A roadmap is only as good as its practical implementation. We are not just looking for abstract thoughts. When you review the Key Actions below, please evaluate them against our five practical implementation categories. Tell us what is missing or what needs to be prioritised:

Technologies: What infrastructure (e.g., EU cloud, AI chips) is lacking?
Products/Applications: What tools or software need to be built?
Markets: How can we ensure adoption in sectors like healthcare, smart cities, and education?
Capabilities: What skills, data stewardship, or design talents do we need?
Regulation/Stimulation Support: What sandboxes, financing schemes, or legal protections are required?

The 10 Key Actions (Grouped by Target Time frame)

We have mapped out 10 Key Actions (KAs) to achieve our goals. Please focus your feedback on the time frames that align with your expertise.

Immediate & Urgent Priorities (2026–2028)

KA2: Promote guiding ethical and health principles for well-being in virtual worlds.

Intended impact: Documented research on mental health and related risks; stronger medical and legal references; better protection enforced alongside higher privacy and trust, including a case for proactive sandboxing.

Indicative leads: EU policymakers, research, health and legal sectors, user communities, education, and media.

[Discuss Pillar A on the Talk Page]

KA3: Promote inspiring partnerships across sectors and borders.

Intended impact: New applications, markets and business models accompanying growth in users, virtual assets, communities, research output and IPR evidence.

Indicative leads: EU policymakers, industry, research, health, cities, Member States, finance actors, XR/VW associations.

[Discuss Pillar D on the Talk Page]

KA6: Promote AI integration and the corresponding skill building for VW creativity.

Intended impact: Upskilling across roles (data stewards, ethics specialists, procurement experts, asset managers/brokers, AI-creation advisors, “avatar librarians”, with sandboxing capacities) emerges in numbers.

Indicative leads: EU policymakers, researchers, technology makers, designers, education, industry champions, and security specialists.

[Discuss Pillar E on the Talk Page]

KA9: Support, refurbish and inaugurate new forms of financing for VW creators.

Intended impact: Better visibility and uptake of existing instruments; new schemes launched to create a more stimulating environment vs. global competitors, with metrics on access and performance. Addressing the deficit in scaling financing means should become a strategic priority.

Indicative leads: EU policymakers & MS, financing organisations, pension funds, business schools, designers and makers.

[Discuss Pillar C on the Talk Page]

Medium-Term Deployments (2026–2032)

KA1: Build skills for virtual worlds; make the EU a talent magnet.

Intended impact: A substantial increase in people able to act as makers, creators, brokers, counsellors, evaluators and researchers, with a visible rise in the number and originality of applications across key sectors.

Indicative leads: EU policymakers, industry, research, Member States, and sector actors (e.g. health, security).

[Discuss Pillar C on the Talk Page]

KA4: Help the Cultural & Creative Industries (CCI) and media test new business models.

Intended impact: Creators and communities scale professional output (with or without AI); business models build on PPPs, blockchain-related communities and open-innovation schemes, as well as classical IPR. For AI and related IPR issues, dedicated farms with sandboxing capacities are needed.

Indicative leads: EU & MS, media and culture sectors, education, finance actors, XR/VW associations, business schools.

[Discuss Pillar C on the Talk Page]

KA5: Develop standards for open/interoperable virtual worlds, with sandbox options.

Intended impact: Measurable sector progression; cross-use of virtual assets becomes increasingly common and referenced; pilot incentives and support for XR/VW associations capable of scaling.

Indicative leads: Technology makers, industry, user communities, XR/VW associations.

[Discuss Pillar B on the Talk Page]

KA7: Boost professional virtual worlds across sectors of excellence.

Intended impact: Health, security, industry and city management achieve measurable performance and shareable experience, moving beyond dispersed experiments towards professional ROI.

Indicative leads: Industry, technology makers, designers, XR/VW associations, education, EU policymakers & MS, finance actors.

[Discuss Pillar D on the Talk Page]

Long-Term Scale-Out (2026–2035)

KA8: Address sovereignty: promote champions; fight IPR theft, manipulation and misinformation.

Intended impact: Priority support for EU champions (cloud, chips, AI, XR/VW); stronger capabilities to counter deepfakes, manipulation and mass misinformation, recognising AI as both risk and remedy.

Indicative leads: EU policymakers & MS, industry, finance, legal, defence and security, media, and education.

[Discuss Pillar E on the Talk Page]

KA10: Reduce the environmental footprint of XR/VW deployments.

Intended impact: Moving from neglect or partial handling to measurable management of energy and hydric (water) footprints across devices, networks and data centres; prepare for emerging costs and standards.

Indicative leads: EU policymakers & MS, environment specialists, the energy sector, education, and research.

[Discuss Pillar E on the Talk Page]