On 3–4 September 2025, the final event of the CORTEX² and SPIRIT projects took place as a special session of the EuroXR 2025 Conference in Winterthur, Switzerland. The session was co-chaired by Dr. Alain Pagani (DFKI) and Prof. Peter Van Daele (imec/Ghent University) and marked the culmination of more than three years of research and innovation on Extended Reality (XR) Collaborative Telepresence.

Over the course of two days, participants were able to explore the results of both projects through presentations, live demonstrations, and posters. More than 50 funded initiatives showcased their work, and the CORTEX² consortium presented three pilot use cases, including remote industrial collaboration, VR-based training, and immersive business meetings, in front of an audience of over 200 XR experts.

A particular focus of the event was the role of cascade funding under the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme. This instrument enabled numerous small and ambitious projects to bring forward novel ideas and prototypes, demonstrating the vibrancy and creativity of Europe’s XR innovation ecosystem.

As coordinator of this large project, DFKI could position itself as a central actor in the XR community network, opening the way to new European initiatives around Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0.

Contact: Alain Pagani