The European EdTech sector is playing an increasingly important role in driving forward digital transformation in Europe covering all education, training sectors. According to estimates, the sector saw a 15% increase on investments in 2021 and global investments are expected to reach over $87 billion in the upcoming decade. Notwithstanding, the sector is heavily fragmented across the European Union with many small players and few companies playing a global role. The European XR industry has evolved and maintained a leading role globally in software and content production. The use of XR can expand the range of activities through which students can gain hands-on experience, enabling them to go beyond abstract knowledge and supporting skills-based teaching and learning. Currently, developing XR applications for education require specialised knowledge and strong XR development skills. The process takes a lot of effort, time, and money. XR4ED concept is to: a) bring together EdTech and XR community and resources, overcoming fragmentation issues and encouraging the acceleration of innovation for personalised, innovative, efficient, and inclusive learning using XR; b) build a one-stop-shop and open marketplace for XR applications for learning, training and education that will act as a European reference platform on learning and teaching with XR. XR4ED will focus on the following sectors which must be further developed to make Europe a leader in cutting-edge technologies for education: Boost the deployment of innovative XR applications for learning, training, and education. Enable digital start-ups, SMEs, and industry active in the EdTech sector to further advance early prototypes, of digital learning solutions/apps using XR to a market-ready product. Provide a single point of access to XR content, tools and solutions based on open standards. Provide links to existing relevant initiatives and projects, including existing platforms, catalogues, or repositories.

As the world moves from the 5G towards the 6G era, the mobile communications fabric needs to be architected differently to accommodate the emerging stringent requirements of innovative extreme future-looking applications that cannot be served by existing 5G mobile networks. Heading towards the next decade, when 6G is expected to be widely deployed, 5G application types will be redefined by morphing the classical service classes of URLLC, eMBB, and mMTC and introducing new services. ADROIT6G is an SNS JU project supporting the EC’s 6G policy by implementing the first phase of the 6G SNS roadmap towards the evolution of a 6G architecture. ADROIT6G proposes disruptive innovations in the architecture of emerging 6G mobile networks that will make fundamental changes to the way networks are designed, implemented, operated, and maintained. Such innovations include: (i) AI/ML-powered optimizations across the entire network, for high performance and automation; (ii) Transforming to a fully cloud-native network software, which can be implemented across a variety of edge-cloud platforms, including Non-Terrestrial Networks, with security built integrally into the network user plane; (iii) Software driven, zero-touch operations and ultimately automation of every aspect of the network and the services it delivers. ADROIT6G innovations, functionalities and performance will be validated through 3 representative extreme 6G use cases (i.e., holographic telepresence, Industrial IoT, collaborative robots/drones) in corresponding PoCs over five well-established 5G testbeds, which will be upgraded to support ADROIT6G innovations and architectural elements. Our 13-partner consortium is driven by industry heavyweights from EU telecom and ICT industries and renowned research organisations, with a vast expertise and experience in 5G and beyond technologies. Most of ADROIT6G’s consortium partners have participated in 44 previously funded 5G-PPP projects and in several 5G-PPP Working Groups.

PREMIERE seeks to modernize the performing arts focusing on dance and theater by using advanced digital technologies to support the whole lifecycle of performances: from their production and curation by both amateurs and professionals, to their delivery and understanding from the audience, as well as their analysis and interpretation by art scholars. In doing so, PREMIERE will contribute to the following general goals: 1) Broaden accessibility to audiences that cannot attend live performances due to physical distance (international audience), health reasons (e.g. elderly, reduced mobility, immunocompromised), or economic reasons (low income). 2) Enhance the understanding of present and past performances by audiences with diverse cultural, social, historical and educational backgrounds. 3) Enrich the creative process by adding new elements, dimensions and capabilities, offered by advanced digital technologies, while enabling international (and therefore inter-cultural) collaboration. 4) Increase the visibility of performances by supporting both spectators in searching for relevant content and producers/curators in communicating their work to the most relevant audiences. Accordingly, the overall objective of PREMIERE is to develop and validate a comprehensive ecosystem of digital applications, powered by leading edge AI, XR and 3D technologies, designed to fulfill the needs of diverse end-user communities involved in the main stages of the lifecycle of performing arts productions, including amateur and professional performers, performance art producers and curators, performance art spectators and scholars.

Clinical skills labs exist in many Universities and University Hospitals, having a high maintenance cost and doesn’t always offer to the medical and nursing students a fully immersive experience. In recent years there is an expansion of ICT in healthcare education, and a number of online resources in the form of Reusable Learning Objects (RLOs), Virtual Patients (VPs) and other on-screen computer or mobile simulation tools have been created with positive acceptance by the students. However, current efforts, luck to provide a cost effective and immersive clinical skills learning experience. Furthermore, Virtual Reality (VR) exists for many years, but it is only lately that the new generation smartphones make VR accessible to a wider audience. There are a few examples of VR resources for healthcare education, and some studies showed promising results. While simulation based training is identified as a valid teaching/learning strategy, little evidence exists for the design and use of virtual reality reusable e-resources in healthcare education. To this extent, there is no development framework for the creation for virtual reality reusable e-resources utilising stakeholder participation. Thus, CoViRR strategic partnership will co-create virtual reality reusable e-resources promoting innovative practices in digital era, by supporting current curricula and fostering open education. The aim of CoViRR strategic partnership is to co-create new pedagogical approaches and in particular virtual reality reusable e-resources for European Medical and Nursing schools. The CoViRR will use participatory design to engage stakeholders (students, healthcare workforce staff, lecturers, clinicians, etc.) in order to co-create low cost, but effective virtual reality reusable e-resources and release them as Open Education Resources. Through CoViRR effective use of digital technologies and open education will be incorporated into Healthcare curricula, in order to enable students to increase their clinical skills by offering both immersive and flexible learning. A multidisciplinary group of experts in online pedagogies, clinical and academic staff, learning technologists, researchers, computer scientists and representatives of medical and nursing students will participate in project activities. Initially identification, consensus and quality assurance of the virtual reality themes and scenarios will be made, followed by training of teaching and technical staff on co-creation methodologies. Next, virtual reality reusable e-resources scenarios and activities will be co-created followed by technical development of them. Then, analysis of feasibility and acceptability of VR Reusable e-Resources, co-creation best practices and recommendations for use will follow. Dissemination of results will happen at two phases: Initially dissemination at local, national and international level using virtual channels to inform about the created VR e-resources in order to attract more learners from other universities for analysing the feasibility and the acceptability and secondly dissemination of the project outcomes through a multiplier event, publications in journal and conferences, social media and websites, press and internal and external networks of partners. Project manager will ensure the high quality and on time activities of the project. The CoViRR outputs will be 9 new virtual reality reusable e-resources for medical and nursing students; trained teaching staff (18) on co-creation methodologies; best practices for the adapted co-creation methodology for virtual reality reusable e-resources; Analysis of feasibility and acceptance of Virtual Reality Reusable e-Resources and recommendations for use in terms of pedagogical aspects; at least 100 trained students on clinical skills having an immersive learning experience. CoViRR expects that students will adopt this new digital pedagogy and improve their clinical skills and competences through immersive learning, while the teaching staff will enhance their e-learning tool co-creation competences and make use of co-creation best practices and recommendation for use. It is also expected increased cooperation between the partners. Thus CoViRR in the long term expect to influence the development of medical and nursing curricula with this digital innovation, foster the quality of the future healthcare workforce and further improve international competitiveness of the partners’ healthcare curricula.

i) ChallengeThe student-educator ratio in higher education is high. This leads to challenges for both:Educators can’t promote formative assessment in their teaching.Students don’t get personalised feedback to increase their learning.Chatbots have the potential of tackling both these challenges. The technology is ready, but the implementation in higher education is still in its infancy. The main reason is the lack of knowledge in how to implement and train the chatbots for specific scenarios in higher education.ii) SolutionWe will define current state of the art and pilot pedagogical chatbots for education from Hubert and Differ at 5 universities in year 1 of the project. Shared knowledge and learning will make the basis for the first iterations of case studies and best practices documentation will be made publicly available. In Year 2 we will invite more higher education institutions to implement pedagogical chatbots as a service for their students with a self-service solutions. We will setup open, digital learning communities (cMOOCs), build a knowledge sharing culture among educators, and motivate the implementation of pedagogical chatbots improving the quality of education in Europe. iii) Project goalsDocument best practises for the use of chatbots in higher education.Proven up to 50 % lower dropout rates.Allow 5.000 HE educators participating in an open knowledge sharing community (cMOOC) with a potential reach of 500.000 students.iv) VisionCreate a sharing culture among educators in higher education leading to best practices implementation of pedagogical chatbots and improving quality of higher education in Europe. v) ImpactReduce dropout rates and improved cost effectiveness, enabling higher education institutions to enroll more student with the same or lower budget.