Virtual worlds test beds

The Virtual Worlds Test Beds opportunity, designated as DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-VIRTUAL-TESTBEDS-STEP, is a forthcoming grant under the Digital Europe Programme, specifically targeting the AI Continent initiative. This grant aims to establish two major testbed networks focused on virtual worlds technologies, divided into industrial applications and societal applications. The total budget for this initiative is €17,000,000, with each grant estimated to provide around €8.5 million for two expected projects.

The application period will open on November 4, 2025, with a submission deadline set for March 3, 2026. Eligible applicants are expected to form consortia and include diverse organizations such as research institutions, universities, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), large enterprises, and public bodies, capable of creating networks of facilities with critical mass across at least three different EU Member States or associated countries.

The projects are positioned to validate and demonstrate mature technologies previously tested in laboratories, with a primary focus on the integration of these solutions into real-world scenarios. Key sectoral targets include manufacturing, construction, industrial design, education, cultural heritage, public administration, and healthcare, relying heavily on technologies such as artificial intelligence, extended reality, and immersive technologies.

Eligible geographical participants include EU Member States and associated countries under the Digital Europe Programme, with a specific emphasis on forming networks that ensure wide collaborative reach. Application processes follow a single-stage procedure, requiring comprehensive proposals to be submitted within the established timeline.

While the precise co-funding requirements are not detailed in the provided data, similar initiatives under the Digital Europe Programme typically necessitate that applicants contribute significantly towards project costs, which could vary based on the organizational type.

Given that the call anticipates high competition, with only two grants available, success rates are predicted to be low due to the comprehensive criteria such as geographic collaboration and the necessary expertise in handling advanced technological infrastructures.

This initiative is strategically aligned with the European Commission's aims to enhance digital sovereignty and support the development of innovative and interoperable technologies through EU regulatory sandboxes, ultimately bolstering Europe's competitive edge in the digital domain.

This is a call for proposals under the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), specifically the AI Continent (DIGITAL-2026-AI-09) call. The topic is DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-VIRTUAL-TESTBEDS-STEP, which focuses on virtual worlds test beds. It is a DIGITAL Simple Grant, with a DIGITAL Action Grant Budget-Based [DIGITAL-AG] type of Model Grant Agreement (MGA). The deadline model is single-stage. The planned opening date is 04 November 2025, and the deadline date is 03 March 2026, 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The expected outcome of this call is to contribute to European digital sovereignty and open strategic autonomy in the domain of virtual worlds, the development of innovative and interoperable virtual worlds solutions, and the creation and promotion of EU regulatory sandboxes for virtual worlds.

The main objective is to increase productivity and innovation capacity through state-of-the-art virtual worlds technologies. The virtual worlds test beds will support testing, experimentation, and integration of Virtual Worlds, immersive and extended reality technologies in specific sectors, targeting both industrial and societal applications. The test beds will focus on testing and integrating mature technologies and solutions that have already been tested in labs, with the objective of validating them in real-world environments. They will also cover the aspects of interoperability and transferability between Virtual Worlds. The virtual worlds testbeds will seek to maximize the uptake of virtual worlds solutions in industrial and societal applications and boost the competitiveness of the sectors they are applied to.

The scope of this action involves support for two world-class sectorial testbeds through two projects: one for industrial applications (such as manufacturing, construction, or industrial design) and one for societal applications (such as education and training, cultural heritage and other cultural experiences, public administration, or healthcare). Each testbed should create a network of facilities with critical mass across at least three different Member States or associated countries. Proposals are expected to focus on either industrial or societal applications, and the area should be clearly identified within the proposal. The test beds will provide all necessary expertise and infrastructure for the design and implementation of the testing methodologies, combining physical world and virtual worlds facilities.

The conditions for this call are as follows:

1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout are described in section 5 of the call document and Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.

2. Eligible Countries are described in section 6 of the call document.

3. Other Eligible Conditions are described in section 6 of the call document.

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion are described in section 7 of the call document.

5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes are described in section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual.

5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in section 9 of the call document.

5c. Evaluation and award: The indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement is described in section 4 of the call document.

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants is described in section 10 of the call document.

The call document and annexes include:

Call document
Application form templates: Standard application form (DEP) available in the Submission System, Ownership control declaration
Model Grant Agreements (MGA): DEP MGA
Additional documents: DEP Work Programmes, DEP Regulation 2021/964, EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, Guidance Classification on information in DIGITAL projects, Guidelines on How to Complete Your Ethics Self-Assessment, Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment, EU Grants AGA Annotated Model Grant Agreement, Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual, Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions, Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

The budget overview for the topic DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-VIRTUAL-TESTBEDS-STEP is 17,000,000 EUR for the year 2025. It is a single-stage application process with a planned opening date of 04 November 2025 and a deadline of 03 March 2026. The indicative number of grants to be awarded is 2.

Other topics within the same call and their respective budgets and indicative number of grants are:

DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-AUTOMOTIVE - DIGITAL-SIMPLE DIGITAL Simple Grants 3,500,000 EUR, 1 grant
DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-DS-HEALTH-STORAGE - DIGITAL-GP DIGITAL Grants for Procurement 17,500,000 EUR, 1 grant
DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-DS-HEALTH-TOOL - DIGITAL-SIMPLE DIGITAL Simple Grants 5,000,000 EUR, 1 grant
DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-ECAVA - DIGITAL-CSA DIGITAL Coordination and Support Actions 1,000,000 EUR, 1 grant
DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-GENAI-PA - DIGITAL-CSA DIGITAL Coordination and Support Actions 1,800,000 EUR, 1 grant
DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-SOLUTIONS-CANCER-STEP - DIGITAL-SME Digital SME Support Actions 14,400,000 EUR, 1 grant

There are 6 partner search announcements available for collaboration on this topic. LEARs, Account Administrators, or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics after logging into the Portal, as well as any user having an active public Person profile.

The submission system is planned to be opened on the date stated on the topic header. For help related to this call, applicants are advised to consult the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ Submission of proposals and contact the IT Helpdesk for technical questions. The Online Manual provides a step-by-step guide through the Portal processes.

In summary, this EU grant opportunity aims to foster the development and adoption of virtual world technologies across both industrial and societal sectors. It seeks to establish two world-class testbeds, each focusing on either industrial or societal applications, within a network of facilities spanning at least three EU Member States or associated countries. The goal is to validate mature virtual world solutions in real-world settings, enhance interoperability, and boost the competitiveness of European industries through the integration of virtual and physical environments. The call is part of the Digital Europe Programme and emphasizes European digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy in the virtual world domain.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated in the provided text. However, the call targets the creation of world-class sectorial testbeds, implying that eligible applicants could include universities, research institutes, large enterprises, SMEs, and other organizations capable of establishing and managing such testbeds. Given the requirement for networks of facilities across multiple Member States or associated countries, consortia are likely to be favored.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically a "DIGITAL Simple Grant" under the Digital Europe Programme. There are also "DIGITAL Grants for Procurement" and "DIGITAL Coordination and Support Actions" mentioned in the budget overview, but the main call is for simple grants. The type of MGA (Model Grant Agreement) is DIGITAL Action Grant Budget-Based [DIGITAL-AG].

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required. The call specifies that each testbed should create a network of facilities with critical mass across at least three different Member States or associated countries. This necessitates a consortium of multiple applicants.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States and associated countries. The requirement for networks across at least three different Member States or associated countries confirms this geographic scope.

Target Sector: The program targets the virtual worlds sector, with applications in both industrial and societal domains. Industrial applications include manufacturing, construction, and industrial design. Societal applications include education and training, cultural heritage and other cultural experiences, public administration, and healthcare. The call also touches on AI (Artificial Intelligence) as it is part of the AI Continent call.

Mentioned Countries: The text mentions EU Member States and associated countries as the geographic area for the network of facilities.

Project Stage: The project stage is validation in real-world environments. The call focuses on testing and integrating mature technologies and solutions that have already been tested in labs. The objective is to validate these technologies in real-world settings through the establishment of virtual worlds testbeds.

Funding Amount: The budget for the DIGITAL-2026-AI-09-VIRTUAL-TESTBEDS-STEP topic is EUR 17,000,000. The indicative number of grants for this topic is 2. Other topics mentioned in the budget overview have varying amounts, such as EUR 3,500,000 for automotive, EUR 17,500,000 for health storage, EUR 5,000,000 for health tool, EUR 1,000,000 for ECAVA, EUR 1,800,000 for GENAI-PA, and EUR 14,400,000 for cancer solutions.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, with a single-stage submission process. The call is forthcoming, with a planned opening date of 04 November 2025 and a deadline of 03 March 2026.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to establish and operate the virtual worlds testbeds.

Application Stages: The application process is single-stage.

Success Rates: The success rates cannot be determined from the provided text. The indicative number of grants for the virtual testbeds topic is 2, but the total number of applications is unknown.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement.

Summary:

This opportunity is a call for proposals under the Digital Europe Programme (DIGITAL), specifically the AI Continent call, focusing on establishing virtual worlds testbeds. The primary objective is to increase productivity and innovation capacity by supporting the testing, experimentation, and integration of virtual worlds technologies in both industrial and societal applications. The call aims to foster European digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy in the virtual worlds domain by developing innovative and interoperable solutions and promoting EU regulatory sandboxes.

The call envisages supporting two world-class sectorial testbeds: one for industrial applications (e.g., manufacturing, construction) and one for societal applications (e.g., education, cultural heritage, healthcare). Each testbed must create a network of facilities with critical mass across at least three different EU Member States or associated countries, requiring applicants to form a consortium.

The funding mechanism is a DIGITAL Simple Grant, with a total budget of EUR 17,000,000 allocated to the virtual testbeds topic, and an indicative number of 2 grants to be awarded. The call follows a single-stage submission process, with a planned opening date of 04 November 2025 and a deadline of 03 March 2026.

Eligible applicants should be capable of establishing and managing virtual worlds testbeds, integrating mature technologies already tested in labs, and validating them in real-world environments. The testbeds should provide the necessary expertise and infrastructure for designing and implementing testing methodologies, combining physical and virtual world facilities.

The call emphasizes the importance of interoperability and transferability between Virtual Worlds, seeking to maximize the uptake of virtual worlds solutions and boost the competitiveness of the sectors they are applied to. Applicants are expected to clearly identify whether their proposal focuses on industrial or societal applications.