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.
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.
From event-based editions to year-round support
The IMPULSE Programme has been delivered through dedicated editions in 2022, 2023, and 2024 in collaboration with VRDays Foundation, IFFR Pro, Stereopsia, NewImages, Laval Virtual, and Virtual Switzerland. Following its return to Immersive Tech Week in June 2026, IMPULSE is now evolving into a year-round online programme executed by XR4Europe, providing continued visibility, mentoring, matchmaking and industry connections to our 2026 cohort of projects throughout 2026 and early 2027. Stay tuned for new announcements through XR4Europe’s newsletter, Discord, and social media channels.
Two Programme Tracks
Creation
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.
This track supports XR startups, SMEs, and applied research projects developing commercial solutions for sectors such as health, education, industry, media, and public services. Projects are typically in pre-seed, seed, and series A stages.
Support focuses on:
- Strategic positioning and pitch development.
- Access to investors, corporates, and public funding actors.
- Matchmaking with technology partners and ecosystem organisations.
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.
Entrepreneurship
This track supports XR startups, SMEs, and applied research projects developing commercial solutions for sectors such as health, education, industry, media, and public services. Projects are typically in pre-seed, seed, and series A stages.
Support focuses on:
- Strategic positioning and pitch development.
- Access to investors, corporates, and public funding actors.
- Matchmaking with technology partners and ecosystem organisations.
Black Box Mensch – Democracy under pressure. Hand-drawn animations, bright colours and driving sound: In fast-paced interactive episodes, users experience how dangerous radical ideologies are for our democratic society.
A 32-page illustrated poetry book for children with an Augmented Reality app to experience the movement and sound of the birds and animals, and listen to an audio recording of the haikus.
A narrative journey to shift how communities understand single mothers difficult integration in society. A 15 minutes room-scale, single-participant interactive VR experience inside a life of a single mother.
Insight Realm is a psychoeducational tool utilizing somatic neuroplasticity that makes the invisible navigable and tangible. A MR/VR experience that makes invisible cognitive biases navigable, reshapable, and reclaimable.
Embody a sperm whale, using your voice to illuminate the dark ocean through echolocation, exploring the dephts with your pod, until human noise intrudes. The aim is to foster empathy for non-human life and our shared planet.
Tiny Lands VR transforms the beloved spot-the-difference experience into a fully immersive virtual reality journey, allowing you to observe and interact with handcrafted miniature worlds like never before.
A story-rich interactive VR adventure designed for adolescent and adult audiences. Filled with puzzles, challenges and narration that complement each other to form a vivid mixture of the non-linear gameplay and immersion.
An AI-native XR narrative that reimagines a haunting folktale about a teenage girl who is married to a Peepal tree to cleanse her horoscope. The experience transforms this ritual into a journey exploring womanhood and transformation.
A multiplayer interactive VR experience embodying a wild reindeer deep into Norway’s vast mountain landscapes, you fight for protection of your herd as the climate crisis challenge survival.
An adaptive wellbeing platform blending XR, spatial audio, AI guidance and biofeedback for meditation and emotional regulation, offering VR/MR experiences plus mobile/web tools for daily reflection, journaling and personalized support.
A VR decision simulator for residential care professionals, recreating moments formal training rarely prepares people for such as ethical dilemmas with no single correct answer, followed by structured, reflective debrief.
Massera is a mixed reality guided massage experience for couples, using spatial guidance and hand tracking on Quest 3 to show where and how to place hands, turning massage into a calm, accessible ritual at home.
SIM XR turns gamified VR teleoperation into scalable behavioral data infrastructure for Physical AI, capturing real human intelligence (grasp, manipulate, and reason) obteining high-quality training data at a fraction of the cost.
An immersive experience based on children’s book bestseller “Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls,” The aim is to establish an immersive content studio for further IP holders, translating established IP into immersive experiences.
An immersive behavioural learning platform helping neurodivergent children practice real-life skills in safe environments, using a projection-based XR room where interact without headsets while educators guide scenarios.
A full 6DoF VR training platform empowering neurodivergent people by strengthening executive functions and procedural memory. The first module, Virtual Public Transport, lets users practice travel skills, building confidence and independence.
A VR training simulator for ECMO, a life-support system used in intensive care. Users train in a virtual ICU where an AI model simulates the patient’s real-time condition, offering scalable training without expensive physical simulators.
A portable VR MedTech platform using a proprietary diagnostic method to objectively assess balance, postural control, and CNS dysfunction, generating quantitative clinical metrics without external platforms, cameras, or sensors.