The selected proposal should provide specific support for the coming European Virtual Worlds Partnership.

The selected proposal should:

• Support to the Virtual Worlds Partnership to develop a strong and inclusive network by strengthening the links and promoting collaboration among academia, industry, public actors and end-users, including the major industrial European sectors and all relevant stakeholders, to guarantee strong coordinated efforts toward trustworthy and human-centric virtual worlds for the economy and society. The network will also include national representatives, to link to national programmes and to foster synergies and coordination between the various European, national, public and private initiatives. Such coordination of efforts in research, innovation and expertise will be important for Europe’s leadership in virtual worlds. The objective is to support the community in defining and implementing the Virtual Worlds strategy for research, innovation, and deployment, and support the Partnership in its coordination and support of the community in non-R&D tasks as well.
• Support the development and implementation of a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for Virtual Worlds (SRIA).
• Support the development of a Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for Web 4.0 in Europe and propose an implementation agenda of a European Web 4.0 strategy for research and innovation by defining the trajectories to drive the evolution of the internet towards Web 4.0. This should include the architectural framework (including standards and protocols) and principles, identifying its main building blocks. The implementation strategy should also identify the technology areas where Web 4.0 and Virtual Worlds can benefit from joint developments, reuse of technologies or exchanges.
• Support the emergence of a thriving European ecosystem for Web 4.0 where developers, research teams, industry and startups can boost technological capabilities, accelerate uptake of innovative solutions, and foster a supportive business environment. This community is expected to be involved in the definition of the architectural framework, its main building blocks and the implementation roadmap.
• Support and encourage the adoption of Virtual Worlds in all Member States and Associated Countries, with particular emphasis on geographical aspect and across the value chain.
• Develop and implement outreach programmes aiming at better understanding and awareness of Virtual Worlds including acceptability and trustworthiness, informing about potentialities of Virtual Worlds but also ensuring that public expectations are realistic to avoid backlash in the adoption. Such activities should target in particular the business community, with a particular focus on SMEs, as well as public administrators, citizens and civil society at large.
• Identify ethical, legal, societal and economic aspects of virtual worlds and actions on how to tackle possible issues. Particular attention should be paid to gender, racial, and other biases as well as mitigation measures.
• Support to standardisation in view of boosting virtual worlds industry, creating, and guaranteeing trustworthy and ethical Virtual Worlds, by bringing stakeholders together and, when needed, organise European representation in existing or new standardisation working groups in support of the Commission regulatory framework.