XR in healthcare is moving faster than systems can absorb it. That’s the honest starting point. The applications are real and varied – VR ECMO trains clinicians on life-support systems without expensive hardware or risk to patients. VR NeuroLink AI tracks balance and posture disorders in neurological patients, tested on over 1,000 people. LIMIAR puts care professionals inside real ethical dilemmas from residential care. DHYANA.ai combines spatial audio, AI guidance, and biofeedback for adaptive wellbeing. These aren’t concepts – they’re ventures being built right now.

But adoption is uneven and the ethical implications are still being worked out. Ross O’Brien maps where the sector is moving ahead of its own readiness. Skip Rizzo brings 30 years of clinical VR research to the question of AI virtual humans – what they can do, and where the boundaries must be. And the ecosystem session examines how networks like DUTCH, SHINE, and the XR Health Business Club are trying to connect fragmented regional initiatives into something that actually scales across Europe.

It’s not just about what’s possible. It’s about what it takes to make it stick.

Top Sessions

XR Showcase: Clinical & Medical Training High-pressure clinical situations cannot be rehearsed enough. ScenariX, VRBieb, and Delsys bring multiplayer VR simulation, ward-floor training scenarios, and 30 years of wearable EMG research to the question of what immersive clinical training actually looks like at scale.

From Region to Europe: Connecting Health Innovation Ecosystems Ross O’Brien, Michael Schuling, Joep Janssen, and Anita Vink-Abaisa examine what it takes to move from fragmented regional initiatives to coordinated healthcare infrastructure across Europe.

From Code to Care: Building AI Virtual Humans that Actually Help People! Skip Rizzo brings 30 years of clinical VR research to the question of AI virtual humans – what they can do, where the boundaries are, and why that debate matters now.

Other Relevant Sessions

XR Showcase: Mental Health & Well-being
IMPULSE Pitches – Round Two Entrepreneurship
AI, VR & Intimacy: (Where) Do We Draw the Line?
How to Fund XR at Scale
From Community to Ecosystem: The XR Landscape from the Lowlands
Designing for Impact: What Makes Immersive Experiences Work
Rotterdam Square Breakfast (registration required)
Healthcare Meetup

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Top Speakers

Skip Rizzo

Director of Medical Virtual Reality and Research Professor at USC

Ross O’Brien

Founder at XR Health Alliance

Sarah Ticho

Joint Managing Director at XR Health Alliance

Anita Abaisa

Founder at IBias VR

Michael Schuling

Quartermaster at DUTCH

Jinjin Zhang

Director of Immersive Technology at AstraZeneca

Programme Overview

Day 1 – Tuesday 23 June 2026

09:00 Vision & Impact Opening Ceremony (Main Stage)
11:00 IMPULSE Pitches – Round Two Entrepreneurship (Main Stage)
13:55 State of the Union: Healthcare & Well-being (Main Stage)
14:20 From Community to Ecosystem: The XR Landscape from the Lowlands (Main Stage)
15:15 How to Fund XR at Scale (Track Stage)
16:10 From Code to Care: Building AI Virtual Humans that Actually Help People! (Main Stage)
16:25 AI, VR & Intimacy: (Where) Do We Draw the Line? (Main Stage)

Day 2 – Wednesday 24 June 2026

07:30 Rotterdam Square Breakfast (registration required)
09:00 Healthcare Meetup (Café)
12:00 From Region to Europe: Connecting Health Innovation Ecosystems (Track Stage)
13:00 XR Showcase: XR in Healthcare (Main Stage)
13:00 Virtual Worlds Association (Summer Opportunity Lounge 1)
14:15 XR Showcase: Healing by Design (Main Stage)
19:00 Our Future on Earth (Track Stage)

Day 3 – Thursday 25 June 2026

09:30 EU Pitch Lounge – Life-saving technology in high-risk environments (Summer Opportunity Lounge 1)
10:30 EU Pitch Lounge – Inclusion, wellbeing and a safer digital life (Summer Opportunity Lounge 1)
11:30 EU Pitch Lounge – Culture, Creativity & Human Impact (Summer Opportunity Lounge 1)
11:30 Guided Tour (Church of VR) (Church of VR)
14:00 Funding Opportunities in Europe’s Immersive Landscape (Main Stage)

Church of VR and the XR Expo run across all three days (XR Expo until 14:00 on Thursday).

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Also explore

IMPULSE – Day 1, Main Stage, 11:00 Six ventures pitching at the intersection of healthcare, training, and wellbeing: VR ECMO, VR NeuroLink AI, LIMIAR, DHYANA.ai, The Learning Room, and Virtual Public Transport. Open to all – a rare chance to see what’s being built and where the business of immersive healthcare is heading.

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Church of VR – open all three days Three works that speak directly to health and wellbeing: EmbodyXR uses movement and dance to support young people’s mental health and anxiety. A Long Goodbye is a poetic experience about dementia, love, and connection. A Walk Home Alone at Night recreates the psychological weight of walking home alone after dark, built from lived experience.

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XR Expo – open all three days Get hands-on with the hardware, software, and platforms shaping the future of immersive healthcare. Meet the companies building the next wave – from clinical simulation tools to rehabilitation platforms and wellbeing applications.

Explore XR Expo