Budget
Total funding available: €200,000 Maximum grant per SME: €40,000 (100% of eligible costs, provided as a lump sum) Number of funded projects: Up to 5 (one per flagship challenge)
Key dates and deadline
Opening date 14 April 2025 Deadline date 23 June 2025 23:59 (Brussels time) Expected duration of participation 4-6 months
Details
The VR Health Champions Open Call 2025, launched under the “We Are Health Champions” EU-funded project, aims to accelerate the adoption of extended reality (XR) and artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare by supporting SMEs across less developed EU regions. With a total budget of €200,000, this call will fund five SMEs—each matched with a flagship VR/AR healthcare innovator (Lightspace, MEEVA, MedApp, Metaskills, or Virtuleap). Successful applicants will contribute specialized expertise—ranging from market research and clinical validation to regulatory planning and technical integration—to address predefined innovation challenges. The program encourages cross-border collaboration and knowledge transfer and is aligned with the EU’s Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) objectives. Projects must be completed within 4–6 months and are expected to generate tangible outcomes such as prototype development, CE-marking support, or market-entry strategy design. All funded activities will be subject to a structured evaluation process, and projects will receive lump-sum payments based on deliverables.
Eligibility
To qualify for funding, applicants must: Be an SME as defined by the EU Recommendation 2003/361/EC Be legally established in: - A region covered by the VR Health Champions consortium - A less developed EU region (GDP per capita < 75% of the EU average) (Romania is included here) - An EU outermost region as defined under Article 349 TFEU Submit only one application per team Submit proposals in English using the official templates
Additional information
The selection involves a single-stage submission and two-step evaluation: written proposal + jury hearing. Evaluation criteria: relevance & experience (25%), methodology (25%), feasibility (25%), impact (25%) Proposals must align with one of the flagship SMEs' challenges (see full call text for details). Eligible activities include market research, business development, clinical validation, CE marking support, and XR integration.
How to apply?
https://vrhealthchampions.eu/get-involved/