The OPENVERSE project aims to create inclusive, open and ethically responsible European virtual worlds, enhancing the European Union's international technological sovereignty.
OPENVERSE is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA), funded under the Horizon Europe programme. It’s rooted in the ambition to elevate the European Union’s digital landscape, responding to global tech competition and fostering technological sovereignty.
The project aims to establish European virtual worlds characterised by openness, transparency, inclusivity, ethical and environmental responsibility, and to enhance the EU’s technological sovereignty
OPENVERSE will lay the foundational framework for these virtual worlds, combining user co-creation with extended reality technologies, addressing legal and ethical challenges, and guiding future policy and industry standards for globally influential virtual worlds.
The project has set up the OPENVERSE Ecosystem task force which will coordinate activities, communication, outcomes and roadmaps with other key and strategic virtual worlds initiatives. The task force’s primary objective is the co-creation of a technological framework and a strategic agenda for European virtual worlds and their human-centric development.
As steward of the common European data space for cultural heritage, Europeana Foundation joined the OPENVERSE task force in April 2024. Europeana Foundation will work together with other task force member towards the following outcomes:
The European Virtual Worlds technical and infrastructure framework and Strategic Agenda
Joint publications for knowledge sharing and community building
Co-creation of networking events and webinars
Definition of industry standards for virtual worlds, guaranteeing interoperability, openness and seamless integration with and between applications, systems, technologies, data and platforms.
For more information on the OPENVERSE project, visit the project website.
