Next Extended Reality (NEXR)

Accelerating Growth and Competitiveness in Finnish Creative

Industries through AI-powered Spatial XR Technologies

Next Extended Reality (NEXR) is a two-year Co-Research project by Business Finland and Tampere University. The NEXR team is led by Mattia Thibault (PI) and includes Janset Shawash and Shuman Yang.

The project aims to boost the growth, enhance the competitiveness, and foster the sustainable development of the Finnish creative industries by developing an innovative paradigm for the design, deployment, and adoption of Extended Reality (XR) technologies. NEXR will tackle the current obstacles in the field thanks to a specific focus on the spatial dimension (increasing the meaningfulness of XR), the use of low-threshold XR technologies (facilitating seamless use), and the use of generative AI (multiplying the richness of content).

NEXR brings together researchers and industrial partners from across the supply chain, to include actors that develop platforms, technology, and tools for XR [Immersal, Virtual Dawn] and that create or benefit from XR content [Yle, Tampere City, Tactic Games, Vapriikki Museum Centre]. The collaboration between researchers and companies will locate symbiotic gaps and opportunities for future synergies, and develop new strategies, frameworks, and business models. In doing so, NEXR will reach two key objectives:

1 Devise a new applicable framework for the implementation of XR technologies in the Finnish cultural industries, expanding its offering and export potential.

2 Reinforce Finland’s reputation as a XR country, building and expanding on its excellent reputation in terms of telecommunications and gaming.