eXtended Reality, combining human-machine interactions with real, mix, augmented and virtual environments, allows for higher engagement with teaching material and more efficient interaction with complex problems or new environments. Proposals will make use of XR technologies to develop and test virtual tools for teaching and learning.

The selected proposal will create a European reference platform on learning and teaching with XR with the aim to:

• develop, apply and test the use of eXtended Reality technologies, in education , such as for virtual field trips, content creation and exploration (STEM, history, etc.), awareness of climate changes and biodiversity challenges, training of young professionals and upskilling (such as but not limited to healthcare and medical, manufacturing, construction and engineering), distance and blended learning, accessibility and inclusion;
• provide access to teachers, students, parents and school administration to a reference platform where they can find educational solutions appropriate for their educational needs;
• build a focal point where the EdTech and XR community (including SMEs, start-ups, companies, academia/research community, learning and instructional designers, social innovators) can share/market their existing digital educational XR solutions, including those developed in the context of EU funded projects;
• further support digital start-ups, SMEs and industry active in the sector through Financial Support for Third Parties actions allowing them to further advance early prototypes of XR educational solution to a market-ready product, with the overall aim to populate the on-demand education platform;
• build upon and link to existing relevant initiatives, including for instance existing platforms, catalogues or repositories;
• reach out to potential user groups through awareness-raising and communication activities to boost the use of the platforms.

The project will be populated with FSTPs and smaller projects such as:

• FSTP projects for fully developed, tested and ready-to-deploy digital learning solutions/apps using XR;
• FSTP XR for education projects including Mini-Piloting projects/schools to be used for user-tests/examples/communication

The actions should select these small scale projects through the use of financial support to third parties. A minimum of 60% of the EU funding of the action should be allocated to the financial support of these third parties, typically of the size of EUR 150 000 to 300 000 per third party and a duration of about 9 to 12 months. Financial support to third parties should in line with the conditions set out in the General Annexes.

In order to facilitate the integration with existing IT systems and policies, the EU XR platform for education should only accept XR content, tools and solutions based on open standards, such as OpenXR and WebXR and should offer publicly available access to XR content, tools and solutions, without passing through app stores.

Specific Topic Conditions:

Activities are expected to start at TRL 4 and achieve TRL 6-7 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.