EuroXR 2026 in Valencia Releases Springer and VTT Proceedings, Showcases Horizon Europe XR Platforms and Hardware Roadmap

The European extended reality research, industrial, and policy communities have converged at the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) in Valencia, Spain, for EuroXR 2026, the 23rd EuroXR International Conference. Running from November 3 to November 6, 2026—following precursor satellite sessions on November 2—this year's gathering has expanded into a multi-summit European hub by co-locating with the 1st Virtual Worlds Partnership (VWP) Annual Forum, the 17th NEM Summit 2026, and the Alliance4XR Final Event.

Organized by the European Association for eXtended Reality (EuroXR) together with UPV's Institute for Research on Human-Centred Technology (Human-Tech) and locally co-chaired by Dr. Mariano Alcañiz Raya, the conference has officially released its two-volume peer-reviewed Springer scientific proceedings alongside VTT's open-access application, poster, and demo proceedings—spanning 24 full scientific papers, 35 applied industry and healthcare presentations, and 55 live demonstrations.

1. Official 2026 Proceedings: 24 Scientific Papers and 90 Applied Showcases

Alongside the live sessions at UPV's Cubo Azul, Cubo Amarillo, and Cubo Rojo buildings, EuroXR has published the complete literature record for the 2026 edition across two dedicated publications:

• Scientific Track Proceedings (Springer Volume 1 & Volume 2): Structured into six core sessions—Rendering and Tracking, Human Factors and Perception, Behavior, Interaction, Collaboration, and Haptics, Biofeedback and Kinematics. Standout technical contributions include an empirical validation study of the Meta Quest 3 for upper-limb kinematic analysis, the UnifiedXRMotion runtime contract for heterogeneous avatar motion, PeriViewMR for stereoscopic continuous real-world perspective sharing, EmoAvatar-VR biofeedback interaction for emotional mirroring, and a clinical comparison of eye-only versus foot-based hands-free AR input for surgical scrub nurses.
• Application, Poster & Demo Proceedings (VTT Technology 449 PDF): Published by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, this 2026 volume documents 35 application-track papers and 55 poster/demo pitches. Industrial and enterprise deployments feature prominently, including large-scale VR e-mobility training at Robert Bosch GmbH, a VR digital twin tackling workforce shortages at Liège Airport, airport VR training for AENA by DeuSens, collaborative astronaut Mars-mission training by CIRA, physics-informed AI digital twins for glass manufacturing (AI-GLASS), and Haption's open-source force-feedback prototyping framework.
• Biometric Auditing & Multimodal AI Demos: Across the 55 posters and live demos, researchers demonstrated a traffic-interception framework for auditing biometric data leakage in VR applications, the A.R.C.O. multimodal XR-LLM cognitive assistant for technical inspections, HaptiSense wearable semantic vibrotactile hardware, and voice-driven 3D environment generation in mixed reality.

2. Keynotes and Tribute Honoree: From Clinical VR to Conversational 3D Objects

The plenary program at EuroXR 2026 bridges three decades of foundational virtual reality science with emerging AI-driven social and educational paradigms:

• Dr. Albert "Skip" Rizzo (University of Southern California, USA): Opened the keynote program on November 4 with "Clinical Virtual Reality: A Brief Review of the Future," charting the 30-year trajectory of clinical VR across PTSD, neurorehabilitation, pain management, and ADHD—and detailing how conversational AI and Virtual Humans (VH) are transforming clinical interviewing and bi-directional patient state sensing.
• Tribute Honoree — Prof. Bernd Froehlich (Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany): Honored in a dedicated Wednesday evening plenary, the IEEE VR Technical Achievement laureate and IEEE 3DUI co-founder delivered "From Ray Tracing to Talking with Objects: Four Decades of Computer Graphics, Visualization, and Virtual Reality Research," tracing the evolution from the early Responsive Workbench to multi-user telepresence (GROOVE and REPLAY) and intelligent conversational objects in social VR.
• Assoc. Prof. Maria Roussou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece): Chaired by the Alliance4XR consortium on November 5, Roussou presented "Weaving Reflection into XR Learning Spaces," proposing reflection as a primary spatial design material rather than an instructional afterthought.
• Prof. Nuria Pelechano (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Spain): Headlining the final day on November 6 with "From Self-Avatars to Virtual Crowds: Enhancing Immersive Experiences," examining how physical collision beliefs, spatialized audio, vibrotactile cues, and inverse-kinematic animation quality shape embodiment and crowd plausibility.

3. Hardware Manufacturer Roundtable and Horizon Europe Project Showcases

Beyond academic papers, EuroXR 2026 serves as the primary public showcase for Europe's flagship Horizon Europe and Erasmus+ immersive technology consortia:

• XR Hardware Roadmap with PICO and Youbiquo: Co-led by the XR2INDUSTRY project on Friday, November 6, the roundtable "Where Is XR Hardware Heading? A Conversation with Leading Manufacturers" brings together Heitor Bravi (PICO XR) and Pietro Carratù (Youbiquo) to debate enterprise headset ergonomics, industrial optical requirements, and European hardware sovereignty, following live industrial demos by Supportsquare, Altheria, and Tkorp.
• MOTIVATE XR (AI-Assisted No-Code Industrial Authoring): Hosted a 90-minute workshop unveiling its European tool suite for industrial training, including KAYROX (ubiquitous no-code XR authoring by Tecnalia), Inscape (storytelling-based scenario authoring by CS Group), D-CUBE's computer-vision object segmentation, and Sopra Steria's knowledge-graph Semantic Process Engine.
• SENSORAMA (Multisensory & Thermal XR): A 15-partner Horizon Europe action across nine countries presented its unified multimodal data model and open interfaces synchronizing visual, spatial audio, force, tactile, and thermal feedback, validated across five training use cases in hip implant surgery, spinal surgery, dental treatment, anatomy, and industrial assembly.
• LUMINOUS & LEAP XR: Project LUMINOUS (with contributions from Vicomtech, Fraunhofer HHI, and DFKI) demonstrated context-aware situational intelligence and language augmentation for neurorehabilitation, safety training, and BIM, while LEAP XR showcased its European Hub for XR Innovation in Preventive Healthcare alongside Erasmus MC's ScenariX surgical simulation platform.
• Alliance4XR Final Event & Cultural Heritage Cloud (ECCCH): The Erasmus+ Alliance4XR consortium celebrated its final milestone by demonstrating the live Alliance4XR Platform for engineering, energy, and maritime education, while a dedicated cultural heritage track united sister projects MusicSphere, EXCALIBUR, UNICHE, and MNEME under the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage.
• VWP Annual Forum & 17th NEM Summit: Running across November 2–4, the first Virtual Worlds Partnership Annual Forum aligned European Commission policymakers and industry around Europe's Virtual Worlds Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA), while the NEM Summit 2026 tackled XR standardization (including the Virtual Dimension Center's new XR Compliance Matrix and living standards register) and networked media in the 6G era.

4. Summary of EuroXR 2026 Tracks and Flagship Initiatives

Program Pillar	Scope & Volume	Key Highlights & Deliverables
Scientific Track	24 Full Papers (6 Sessions)	Published in 2 Springer LNCS volumes; covers rendering, perception, collaboration, haptics, and Meta Quest 3 kinematic validation
Application Track	35 Presentations (6 Sessions)	Published in VTT Technology 449; features Bosch e-mobility VR, Liège Airport digital twin, CIRA Mars astronaut training, and ITI MIND clinical MR
Posters & Demos	55 Showcases (2 Fast-Forward Tracks)	VR biometric traffic auditing, A.R.C.O. LLM inspection assistant, HaptiSense wearables, and Alliance4XR platform live demos
Co-Located Summits & EU Clusters	VWP Forum, NEM Summit, 10+ EU Projects	PICO XR & Youbiquo hardware roundtable, MOTIVATE XR no-code AI tools, SENSORAMA multisensory/thermal XR, and ECCCH heritage cloud

5. Closing & EuroXR Awards Ceremony

EuroXR 2026 concludes on Friday afternoon, November 6, in the Cubo Azul Auditorium with the EuroXR 2026 Closing & Awards Ceremony (12:30–13:00 CET), where the international award committees—chaired across tracks by Dr. Lucio De Paolis, Dr. Domna Banakou, and Dr. Giannis Karaseitanidis—will announce the winners of the Best Scientific Paper, Best Application Paper, Best Poster, and Best Demo Awards.