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Future funding

XR Network+ activities will be built around five stages, with an annual networking and showcase event. The five stages will broadly corresponding to the five years of our project:

  • Year 1: Engage
  • Year 2: Explore
  • Year 3: Challenge
  • Year 4: Respond
  • Year 5: Report and Renew.

Year 1: Engage (2023)

During Year 1 we will launch initial funding calls for feasibility studies to drive the research community to our project. Activity includes:

  • Embedding R&D Grants 1 (launching quarter 2)
  • Prototyping, Impact and Acceleration R&D Grants 1 (launching quarter 2)
  • Early Career Researcher activity (launching quarter 4)

Year 2: Explore (2024)

Activities in Year 2 will include thematic workshops and sandpit activities to transform initial interest into co-created research questions and challenges.

We will also deliver a 10-week XR Accelerator programme for early career researchers.

Activity includes:

  • XR Accelerator programme (launching quarter 1)
  • Embedding R&D Grants 2 (launching quarter 2)
  • Prototyping, Impact and Acceleration R&D Grants 1 (launching quarter 3)
  • Challenge Workshops (launching quarter 3)
  • Hackathons (launching quarter 4)

Year 3: Challenge (2025)

Year 3 will take research questions emerging from our earlier work and refine this into a single challenge to the research community. We will launch a staged application process through which one to three applicants will be funded. They will then be guided through an innovation sprint towards a demonstrator prototype to include mentoring, facilities focused retreats and hackathons.

Activity includes:

  • R&D Challenge (launching quarter 1)

Year 4: Respond (2026)

Year 4 will see a process of portfolio building and consolidation, the identification of advances across the digital economy themes via research commissioned to date, and the outputs, demonstrators, and impact of activities completed. We will undertake a programme of dissemination. Our target audiences, user groups, and policy makers will translate and cascade results through knowledge exchange.

Year 5: Report and Renew (2027)

During this phase we will report on XR Network+ research outputs and their impact on the digital economy, and reflect upon the themes which have emerged from our work. We will commission reviews of VP activities, its impact on the digital economy and research to see exactly how innovation has been enabled. We will outline a future roadmap for Virtual Production Plus.