VR Health Champions Open Call 2025

VR Health Champions is a 3-year project aiming at breaking down market, clinical and regulatory barriers in XR healthcare across less developed regions of Central Eastern and Southern Europe, while fast-tracking the advancement of VR/AR applications.

It focuses on five flagship SMEs – Lightspace, MEEVA, MedApp, Metaskills, and Virtuleap – that are leading this transformation. The project’s outcome is to upgrade their Technology Readiness Level (TRL) for VR/AR innovations from TRL 6 to TRL 9, ultimately creating pathways for future innovations in the sector.

To achieve this, the consortium is now seeking SMEs specialising in AR sensors, AI-driven virtual agents, VR market research, XR clinical risk frameworks, or regulatory documentation, to be strategically matched with Flagship projects through cascade funding and foster cross-sector knowledge exchange and technology transfer.

Funding Information

• The estimated available call budget is 200.000 €. Each successful applicant SME may receive financial support up to the sum of 40.000 €.
• A total of five SMEs, one per challenge, will be selected to receive Financial Support for Third Parties (FSTP) under this call for proposals. However, if a suitable SME is not identified for a particular challenge, they reserve the right not to announce a winner.
• The financial support to SMEs will be calculated as a maximum 100% of eligible costs, up to 40.000 €, but the applicants may request lower grant rate/grant amount. The approved grant amount to selected SMEs will be provided as a lump sum contribution, subject to proper implementation of the action.
• Project Duration: 4-6 months.

Eligible Activities

• Eligible activities include, but are not limited to:
  • Innovation & Market Services
  • Market research, buyer and stakeholder analysis, and competitive benchmarking
  • Business model validation and development of go-to-market strategies
  • Identification and engagement of commercial partners or distribution networks
  • Technical Development & Integration
  • Development of plans, designs, and demonstrators for new or improved products and processes
  • Sensor and software integration for XR solutions
  • Tailoring and adapting existing prototypes or technologies to meet specific needs
  • Regulatory & Risk Management Support
  • Development of clinical risk assessment frameworks for XR in healthcare
  • Preparation of VR-specific technical documentation for CE marking
  • Identification of regulatory gaps and creation of compliance strategies
  • Partnership & Ecosystem Building
  • Internationalization activities, including market adaptation of products or services
  • Establishing partnerships with resellers, trainers, or clinical sites for scalability
  • Use of test beds and demonstration facilities to validate technical or regulatory hypotheses

Eligibility Criteria

• In order to participate in the VR Health Champions Open Call process, applicants have to comply with the following requirements and key aspects:
  • SMEs as defined by the European Commission in EU Recommendation 2003/361/EC1. Applicants must provide the relevant SME status confirmation template as part of their application.
  • Applicants must be legally established in one of the following:
    • A region covered by the VR Health Champions consortium.
    • A less developed region within the European Union, as defined by the European Commission, where GDP per capita is below 75% of the EU average.
    • An outermost region of the European Union, as recognized under Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

For more information, visit EC.