IMPULSE The European XR Accelerator

The IMPULSE Programme is a European support and matchmaking framework for XR and immersive technology projects at different stages of development. IMPULSE connects selected creative and entrepreneurial projects with funders, curators, industry partners, and ecosystem organisations through structured pitching, coaching, and targeted meetings.

IMPULSE was created to respond to a recurring gap identified across the European XR ecosystem: promising projects often struggle not because of a lack of quality, but because of limited access to the right decision-makers at the right moment.

The Programme is designed to:

  • Support XR projects in clarifying their positioning and next steps
  • Facilitate structured encounters with relevant stakeholders
  • Strengthen cross-border connections within the European XR ecosystem
  • Enable projects to move from development to funding, distribution, or deployment

In 2026, the Programme will be produced by XR4Europe and will once again take place during Immersive Tech Week in Rotterdam.

The Call for applications is now closed.

The program offers two distinct tracks:

Content Creation and Entrepreneurship

CONTENT CREATION

This track supports artists, studios, and creative teams developing immersive works for cultural, artistic, and narrative contexts. Projects typically operate across virtual reality, mixed reality, spatial storytelling, and location-based experiences.

Support focuses on:

  • Curatorial feedback and professional exchange

  • Visibility toward festivals, cultural institutions, and commissioning bodies

  • International networking within the immersive arts ecosystem

Selected projects have historically included immersive narratives, interactive installations, and experimental XR formats presented in cultural and artistic settings.

2026 Selected Creative Projects

MusikaliVR

MusikaliVR offers immersive 180° 3D live music in VR. It is seated, standard room-scale, and primarily single-user, with optional multiplayer...

Gut Instinct

Multi-user interactive free-roam VR LBE and a room-scale installation with Deepspace projection tech. Onsite and online versions.

You...

Insight Realm

Insight Realm is an immersive XR experience that externalizes cognitive biases as a navigable garden. Users physically deconstruct negative...

Black Box Mensch

In the initial phase, BBM is planned as a single-user seated and standard room-scale VR experience for museums and...

Symphony of the Deep

Participants embody sperm whales and explore the depths of the ocean using their voices as a sonar.

You are...

Under The Pillow

Every family has a guardian spirit shaped by the thoughts, emotions, and actions of its members.

In the Katwicki family,...

Growing Up Human

Each page shows an illustration of Irish wildlife, which becomes animated through the magic of AR, seen through an...

Wild Reindeer-VR

Through a self chosen magic transformation you leave the peaceful human POV becoming TheWildReindeer, immersed in a once mesmerising...

In My Skin

Commissioned by Moroccan charity 100% Maman and documented by TV5 Monde, In My Skin places the user inside the...

Tiny Lands VR

Tiny Lands VR is intended to be played seated. It’s a single-player experience, and no internet connection is required....

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

This track supports artists, studios, and creative teams developing immersive works for cultural, artistic, and narrative contexts. Projects typically operate across virtual reality, mixed reality, spatial storytelling, and location-based experiences.

Support focuses on:

  • Curatorial feedback and professional exchange

  • Visibility toward festivals, cultural institutions, and commissioning bodies

  • International networking within the immersive arts ecosystem

Selected projects have historically included immersive narratives, interactive installations, and experimental XR formats presented in cultural and artistic settings.

2026 Selected Entrepreneurship Projects

VR ECMO

We are developing a VR training simulator for ECMO, a life-support system used in intensive care. Users train in...

VR NeuroLink AI

VR NeuroLink AI is a medical XR platform for objective assessment and monitoring of balance and postural control in...

Sim XR

SIM XR turns gamified VR teleoperation into scalable behavioral data infrastructure for Physical AI. SIM XR captures real human...

LIMIAR

LIMIAR is a VR decision simulator for residential care professionals. It recreates the moments formal training rarely prepares people...

VorTX

VorTX is a SaaS platform that enables educators and organizations to create immersive learning experiences using 3D models, XR...

DHYANA

DHYANA.ai is an adaptive wellbeing platform combining XR environments, spatial audio, AI guidance and biofeedback to support meditation, emotional...

The Learning Room

The Learning Room is an immersive behavioural learning platform that helps neurodivergent children practice real-life skills in safe, controlled...

Virtual Public Transport

Virtual Empowerment is a full 6DoF VR training platform designed to empower neurodivergent individuals by strengthening executive functions and...

Massera

Massera is a mixed reality guided massage experience designed to help couples reconnect through touch. Using spatial guidance and...

A programme shaped by the European XR ecosystem

IMPULSE builds on earlier editions developed within the VRDays and Immersive Tech Week and has evolved into a European programme through collaboration with XR4Europe and its network.

Across its editions, IMPULSE has supported a wide range of XR projects and contributed to the formation of longer-term collaborations. Notably, many of the founding members of the VR Health Champions initiative first connected through the 2023 edition of the Programme, illustrating its role as a catalyst for durable ecosystem partnerships.

Impulse Partners

VRDays Foundation

XR4EUROPE

Virtual Switzerland

IFFR Pro