WOMEN IN IMMERSIVE TECH EUROPE

Women in Immersive Tech Europe is a European NGO that wants to break barriers and be an inspiration for Women in Immersive Technologies all over the world. The WIIT community is a place to connect, meet like-minded women and underrepresented groups from across Europe and beyond, and find the resources to learn and grow.

Here below you can find the overview of the most successful campaigns since the launch of WIIT Europe in 2016 until today.

BAD*SS GIRLS IN XR: Fueling Futures

The exceptional girls from our Young Bad*ss Lab program have been invited on stage at AWE Europe (Vienna Oct’23) & VR Days (Rotterdam Nov’23). Help us raise 10,000€ within a month to fund their travel. Donate NOW to support their representation on stage and offer a chance for the girls to connect with like minded people and advance their creativity, their drive and future!

Imagine a world where dreams take flight, innovation knows no bounds, and equality reigns supreme. WIIT Europe, alongside InnovationGirls and Imsi3D, is on a resolute mission: to shatter ceilings and amplify opportunities for exceptional girls from the 2023 Bad*ss Girls design competition, from both (Nigeria) Africa and Europe.

Imagine a metaverse where everyone's voice matters, where young talents soar high, and where barriers are merely stepping stones to success. That's the world we're creating, and we're inviting YOU to be a hero in this story of empowerment.

This remarkable journey requires Your generous support to become a reality…

Here's the scoop: We have an incredible chance to place the spotlight on the Bad*ss Girls Community at Augmented World Expo (Vienna - Oct '23) and VR Days (Rotterdam - Nov '23). Help us fund the travel of two extraordinary girls representing Europe and Africa.

The Young Bad*ss Lab, an 8-week workshop, is a transformative journey for 16 girls, predominantly from underserved communities. They're granted a unique opportunity to step into the realm of Metaverse, Web3, and Gaming through a guided program. Alongside mentors and previous cohorts, they're crafting the future of the Metaverse according to their vision.

WIIT Europe, in partnership with Innovation Girls and Imsi3D, has brought this Lab to life, bolstered by the sponsorship of Meta and the incredible support of the wider community.

The outcome of this workshop is nothing short of awe-inspiring! The brilliance of these girls' minds continues to leave us speechless and filled with admiration... And now, we want to share this brilliance with the world at two pivotal conferences. This is where you come in, join us in transforming this vision into reality!

Our goal is to raise more than 10,000€ within a month

A united force that will empower these young pioneers to take centre stage, proudly showcase their creations, share their visions, and inspire a transformative change in the immersive tech realm.

• 8000€ for passports/visas, flights & accommodations: 1 girl, 1 parent, and an accompanying representative from Nigeria > VR Days (Rotterdam)

• 2000€ for passports/visas, flights & accommodations: 1 girl, 1 parent, and an accompanying representative from Europe > AWE EU (Vienna)

Be the Catalyst for Change:

Every euro you contribute ignites a spark of potential. Your donation isn't just a financial gesture – it's a vote for a future where diversity thrives, innovation is boundless, and young talents are nurtured.

How to Join the Movement:

• Click the link to donate.

• Share this campaign with your network – amplify the impact far and wide.

• Follow our journey on social media and witness the magic unfold.

Let's rise together, showing the world the unstoppable force of unity, and let's empower these Bad*ss Girls to shine brighter than ever before. Your support isn't just a donation – it's a declaration of faith in the boundless potential of the next generation.

Join us in turning dreams into reality. Together, we'll craft a metaverse that's inclusive, innovative, and utterly inspired.
Together, we'll fuel the futures of Bad*ss Girls in XR!

BAD*SS

iVG’s My Metaverse Design Competition, dedicated to young women / non-binary aged 13 - 17, is organized by InnoVationGirls USA and Women in Immersive Tech Europe, funded by the WIIT Meta Grant.

INNOVATIONGIRLS

InnoVationGirls (iVG.World) wants to ensure equal participation in the second economy of the metaverse to make sure it's being built equitably from the beginning. We bring together young women / non-binary with mentors, entrepreneurs, business teams and universities to learn and design innovative immersive spaces. By weaving creativity into technology through Systematic Inventive Thinking and VR 3D modeling, members are inventing products, launching them, and becoming mentors for other girls.  The iVG community is a safe place to connect and build life-long friendships with like-minded individuals from across the world.

IVG’S MY METAVERSE DESIGN COMPETITION 

iVG’s My Metaverse Competition is an 8 week-long series of virtual workshops centered around designing and creating their own unique space in the metaverse. The aim is to create equal representation and engage the youth in the development of the metaverse. The participants will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and a winning team will be chosen. 

The workshop is headed by Richard Zreik, Co-Founder of iVG.World, along with metaverse experts.

We invite nominations for young women / non-binary 13 - 17 years old to participate in this extraordinary cohort to imagine and design their own immersive space in the metaverse. Nominations may be submitted by any member of the community, including family, teachers, counselors, mentors, community leaders and others.

The competition enables sixteen young women / non-binary 13 - 17 years old, to create their unique, virtual space, interact through their avatar and meet women leaders in immersive tech through education and mentorship. 

➣ CONDITIONS AND ELIGIBILITY

Participants join the Metaverse Design Competition for eight weeks and will have access to a range of resources during that time. 

Who: 16 emerging Virtual Reality creators that identify as young woman/ non-binary digital creators between the ages of 13-17 from diverse and underrepresented groups.

Criteria:

- Availability during May - June, 2023 

- Residing in Europe (UK is included).

- Have a strong command of the English language.

- Must have a guardian sign on behalf of the participant.

- Willingness to create and experiment as well as exchange and learn with peers to develop new skills together.

➣ FINANCIAL REWARD

In addition to the hardware (an Oculus 2 VR Headset), participants will each receive a financial award for participation in the Competition. The financial reward is meant to honor their creative minds and inspire interest in the immersive technology fields.

➣ ENGAGEMENT OF PARTICIPANTS

START: May 1, 2023

Participants and Mentors will get to know each other in VR, on the Oculus Head Gear and learn how to use the technology.

Selected participants will meet virtually three times a week for one hour each using the Oculus 2 VR Headset provided by Meta and commit to a total of 24 hours over the course of eight weeks starting in May.

Workshops will take place on Saturdays, Mondays / Wednesdays and Tuesdays / Thursdays from 5:00 - 6:00 PM (CET). Participants can choose to join either the Mon/Wed sessions or the Tue/Thu sessions in addition to Saturdays.  

➣ HOW TO APPLY

This call for participation is open to English speaking European* young women/non-binary ages 13-17. 

Submit your nomination or application before April 12, 2023 via the application form over here or on the https://ivg.world/ website.

Announcement of results: 31st April 2023

*European with English as the first or second language. UK is included.

DVRSTY Office Hours #2

We believe that the next generation of the Internet should be built by a more diverse* set of founders than the last. DVRSTY exists to help accelerate those founders in creating ambitious new companies within the Metaverse and Web3. We do this primarily by connecting them with capital, network and talent. The applications are open for the second edition of DVRSTY Office Hours.

➣ What You’ll Get

The Office Hours is designed for founders currently starting their company and/ or raising their first capital. You’ll be given 20 minute private sessions with seasoned experts and investors. This is not a pitching opportunity but a safe environment to learn, ask tough questions and make valuable connections.

HOW TO APPLY

• Simply fill in the application form by April 11th

• Please complete all fields to the best of your ability

• We will announce the participants at the virtual networking event on April 17th and send confirmation emails on April 18th. Please keep your calendars free for April 26th.

• Spaces will be limited but if demand is strong we will arrange more sessions

• We are considering open sourcing a list of all companies that are interested in being contacted in the future by other investors. We will ask for your permission if we do this.

ELIGIBILITY criteria

• Founding team must include at least one diverse women* founder

• This is for founders at the beginning of their journey (from pre-launch to seed)

• You have raised less than £1m so far

• If pre-launch you must already have an MVP or a strong idea of what you want to build and be within 3-6 months of starting

• The company should be based in Europe

• You are company building under the broad definition of the Metaverse

• includes adjacent areas incl. web3, realtime 3D, enterprise metaverse, spatial computing, AI

• You shouldn’t be pure content or service-based business (eg. pure studios, agencies)

• You need to be able to join the Office Hours by video call for the entirety of the scheduled time

*by this we mean every woman, (including trans and non-binary) and from any background.

What will happen?

• Office hours will be held via video call, with each meeting lasting approx 20 mins

• Each meeting will be private and consist of yourself (co-founders can join) and two of our investors/operators

• Office hours should be constructive and the investor you meet may or may not want to follow up afterward

• There is an opportunity to network with other founders after the private sessions

• The sessions are not intended to be pitch sessions. You can use the 20 mins as you wish but we would suggest the following:

1. Founder presents what they’re working on, with slides if preferred (3-5 mins)

2. Founder comes prepared with 3 or 4 areas they want feedback/help on. Prepare specific questions beforehand. For example funding advice, feedback on product/market/idea, Go To Market etc (15 mins)

Supporters Behind DVRSTY

DVRSTY is a community-driven initiative, led by FOV Ventures, with the support of a growing number of partners including WiiT (Women In Immersive Tech) and XRDI. Virtual networking and investment readiness workshop is part of the WIIT Meta grant 2023. We have also partnered with AWE to provide 15 founders with a free ticket for the upcoming AWE USA conference in Santa Clara, California. All applicants will have a 20% coupon code. If you’re an investor, operator or potential partner that would like to get involved then don’t hesitate to contact us.

the final selection for our DVRSTY#2 campaign

At the kick-off and virtual networking event on April 17th in Meta’s Horizon Workrooms we’ve announced the final selection out of our applicants.
The final selected female-led startups met with seasoned investors to test the waters at the Office Hours #2 on April 26th for 5x private 20min sessions for their respective projects. Behold as their journey continued in May with an investor readiness workshop with the expertise and extended experience of our co-founder Leen Segers.

finalists & prizes DVRSTY 2023 edition

The DVRSTY team rewarded those who they believed would benefit the most with the following rewards:

A full pass and a travel stipend of 500€ each for AWE USA 2023
Altr - SensiVR - Imvizar

A 3-day trip to London from June 27th > 29th including an exclusive Investor Dinner at the Ivy Tower Bridge the 27th, a full pass for the Economist Enterprise Metaverse Summit and participation to the WIIT Meetup UK on June 28th, a full pass for SEG3 on June 29th, travel & accommodation for 1 person.
Altr - Imvizar - Arrival.space

Female Founders Building The Metaverse

we wanted to recognize that there are quite a number of amazing female founders here in Europe that have already started building (in fact we had over 40 apply for the last DVRSTY Office Hours)! Some have raised considerable sums of money, others are just starting on their journey. But they’re all making significant contributions to the Metaverse industry in Europe.

As we started making a list of those founders that we already knew, we realized that it would be a great idea to throw open that list, celebrate their achievements so far and shine a light on what they’re building. We also plan to open source all the data on the startups we get to know. So please spread the word.

Apply here to get yourself or some amazing female founder building the metaverse on our list!

Notes

Our thought process for selecting the founders:

• We hope this list will serve a few different purposes eg. shining a light on those already building, inspiring others to do the same, providing a good resource for others looking to identify more female founders (incl. investors, conference organizers etc). And of course we hope that it will help more people find out about the DVRSTY #2 Office Hours that we’ll be announcing later

• These founders are all based in Europe (we had to limit ourselves somehow!). Hopefully someone else is also making a US and ROW list :)

• We’ve focused on founders that are building startups that plan to scale to many people and likely raise additional funding (vs. solopreneurs, agencies, service-based businesses). But it’s important to point out that venture backing isn’t always the right way to grow a company.

• *To be as inclusive as possible, when we say female founders we could also expand this to being any founder identifying as female and including trans or non-binary

More Amazing Female Founders

1. Claudia Ruiz-Graham @ Stratbox

   Stratbox is a platform for collaborative data visualation in the 3D space being used by large oil and gas companies and within education.

2. Jessie Fu @ Altr.

   Altr is a digital fashion platform dedicated to unlocking the value of cultural heritage and archival fashion.

3. Melodie Mousset @ PatchXR

   Patch is building the musicverse, create your own virtual music world and then jam out.

4. Gala Marija Vrbanic @ Tribute Brand

   Tribute brand makes digital clothing which consumers can buy and paste onto themselves.

5. Esther O’Callaghan @ Hundo

   Hundo is an ed-tech company building the world's first learn-and-earn campus for Gen Z to supercharge their career in tech.

6. Nina Salomons @ AnomieXR

   Anomie’s uses immersive technologies to create positive narratives and bring mental health care into the future.

7. Lili Eva Bartha @ GN3RA

   Immersive design platform with cloth simulation to create wear and trade as the latest in digital fashion as NFTs and wear in AR or on your avatar.

8. Paula Sello & Alissa Aulbekovo @ Auroboros.

   Metaverse-native luxury fashion house created for both the physical & digital worlds.

9. Yin Zhang @ Virtual Beings

   Developing an advanced behavioral AI engine to populate the metaverse with believable virtual life.

10. Anne McKinnon @ Ristband

    Metaverse platform where events taking place in the real world can have a digital twin of the physical world happening in real time.

11.  Veronica Costa Orvalho @ Didimo

    Provider of fast, automated solutions for the generation of high-quality real-time digital human avatars.

12.  Alexandra Hussenot @ Immersionn

    A creative media technology company that specializes in licensing and building virtual worlds.

13.  Melissa McBride @ Sophia Technologies

    Building a model of NextGenEd at the forefront of the digital education revolution.

14.  Sarah Ticho @ HatsumiVR

    A participatory virtual reality experience inviting you to express pain and emotion through 3D drawing.

15. Mariliis Retter @ Alpha 3D

    A generative AI-powered platform that enables users to automatically transform 2D images of real-world objects into 3D digital assets.

16. Cathline Smoos @ ImbueVR

    A collaborative game of virtual fantasies for couples, created to bring passion and realistic interaction to VR in adult games

17. Emma Ridderstad @ Warpin Reality
    Warpin provides a tailored full-service solution emerging from a VR platform for onboarding and upskilling employees.

18. Raquel Cardoso @ Sense of Space
    Smart 3d compression, optimization and streaming system for the Metaverse

19. Emmi Jouslehto @ Arilyn
    Design immersive and interactive XR experiences to make brands’ message stick

20. Linda Fachinetti @ Jump Into Reality
    Virtual reality technology to design 3D interior spaces and go from concept to life-like immersive experiences in real-time
    

The Immersive Creators Catalyst is the first project grant funded by WIIT and Meta to specifically support European immersive projects produced or creatively led by women, non-binary and gender diverse creatives. The Immersive Creators Catalyst aims to unlock the potential of talented women and underrepresented groups driving European immersive media projects.

WOMEN IN IMMERSIVE TECH EUROPE

Women in Immersive Tech Europe is a European NGO that wants to break barriers and be an inspiration for Women in Immersive Technologies all over the world. The WIIT community is a place to connect, meet like-minded women and underrepresented groups from across Europe and beyond, and find the resources to learn and grow.

WIIT’S Immersive Creators Catalyst

The Immersive Creators Catalyst will be distributed with the support of European XR programs who will nominate European based women, non-binary and diverse gender XR creators with their promising projects. The goal of this fund is to help in the development and/or production of their projects/prototypes and to offer more visibility in the industry. Among the training and market initiatives around Immersive Technology, WIIT Meta Grant has chosen to work with three European programmes for their pedagogical value and successful impact: the Biennale College Cinema Virtual Reality & the Venice Gap Financing Market, the Stereopsia Booster and the European Creators’ Lab. 

An independent jury will select the grant winners from the nominations. The winning projects will not only receive financial support over the following months, but also the support of the WIIT community and mentors. The Immersive Creators Catalyst is managed by Astrid Kahmke.

➣ ELIGIBILITY criteria

- European (at least core team)
- Immersive
- Female(identified) led, which is either producer or creative lead(s)
- In development or in production
- Participated in one of the partners‘ programs

➣ Facts

Submission to be completed until March, 24th
Jury meeting will be on April 8th, 2022 
80,000 € are available for 2022

➣ Programs that nominate

1. Biennale College Cinema Virtual Reality & the Venice Gap Financing Market 

Since 2016 La Biennale di Venezia offers the Biennale College Cinema – Virtual Reality for the development and production of Virtual Reality projects, and selects each year around 10 VR projects presented by teams of director and producer, coming from all over the world. The project teams work with a dedicated group of tutors including story developers, creative technologists and visual advisors, to fully develop their projects. 

The Venice Gap-Financing Market is a platform for selected projects that aims to support European and international producers to secure financing for their projects through one-to-one meetings with potential and pertinent international professionals.

2. Stereopsia Europe

Stereopsia Europe is a gathering of entrepreneurs, investors, content creators, scientists, and audiences seeking new voices and fresh perspectives since 2009. The Forum is well known for its top-level conferences but also features a Festival for the best XR contents produced in Europe, and the  Crystal Owl® Awards. The Booster for narrative projects, collaboratively organized with the European Creators’ Lab, hosts around 10 European projects each year.

Stereopsia Booster and Festival are high value programmes selected by WIIT Meta Grant to nominate projects for the Immersive Creators Catalyst.

3. European Creators' Lab 

The European Creators’ Lab, funded by the Creative Europe Media Program since 2017, revolves around spatial creation, immersive storytelling, UX design. It is an inspiring sandbox for creative minds and visionary artists to explore the opportunities that prepare the soil for future narratives and projects. More than 200 XR creators from about all over the world joined the Development and Booster Labs so far, mentored by international award winners, thought leaders and visionaries. 

Numerous collaborations and close network ties have emerged from the labs. They form an important nucleus of the European XR ecosystem. Lots of projects have been "born" in the Development Labs and about 10 projects per year have been hosted in the Booster, which is organised together with Stereopsia Europe.  The head of the European Creators' Lab is Astrid Kahmke.

➣ How to get the funding to the projects: Grant Management

Astrid Kahmke is co-founder and head of the European Creators’ Lab, a training initiative for XR creators and producers funded by the Creative Europe Media Program of the EU since 2017. She is one of the leading networkers in the European XR eco system. Her decades of experience in project- and event management, and her expertise in the field of artistic and creative audiovisual projects from film to VR make her an internationally renowned expert and decision maker for the XR industry.

Astrid spent nearly 20 years in the film industry and has a background as producer for international feature films, which won numerous awards in the past. As Creative Director of the Bavarian Film Centre, a startup incubator for media professionals, she innovated the “First Movie Program” for debut filmmakers, and designed, realised and led numerous trainings in the field of digital and immersive storytelling. Since 2019, she has also been the director of the Virtual Worlds Festival as a co-founder. Astrid has just founded her consulting company YONDERS GmbH, which focuses on project management, production, event and everything to do with storytelling for immersive media.

iVG’s My Metaverse Design Workshops, dedicated to young women / non-binary aged 13 - 17, is organized by InnoVationGirls USA and Women in Immersive Tech Europe, and funded by the WIIT Meta Grant.

Innovationgirls

InnoVationGirls (iVG.World) wants to ensure equal participation in the second economy of the metaverse to make sure it's being built equitably from the beginning. We bring together young women / non-binary with mentors, entrepreneurs, business teams and universities to learn and design innovative immersive spaces. By weaving creativity into technology through Systematic Inventive Thinking and VR 3D modeling, members are inventing products, launching them, and becoming mentors for other girls. The iVG community is a safe place to connect and build life-long friendships with like-minded individuals from across the world.

IVG’S MY METAVERSE DESIGN Workshops

iVG’s My Metaverse Workshops is an 8 week-long series of virtual workshops centered around designing and creating their own unique space in the metaverse. The aim is to create equal representation and engage the youth in the development of the metaverse. The participants will pitch their ideas to a panel of judges and a winning team will be chosen. 

The workshop is headed by Richard Zreik, Co-Founder of iVG.World, along with metaverse experts.

We invite nominations for young women / non-binary 13 - 17 years old to participate in this extraordinary cohort to imagine and design their own immersive space in the metaverse. Nominations may be submitted by any member of the community, including family, teachers, counselors, mentors, community leaders and others.

The workshops enable sixteen young women / non-binary 13 - 17 years old, to create their unique, virtual space, interact through their avatar and meet women leaders in immersive tech through education and mentorship. 

➣ CONDITIONS AND ELIGIBILITY

Participants join the Metaverse Design Workshops for eight weeks and will have access to a range of resources during that time. 

Who: 16 emerging Virtual Reality creators that identify as young woman/ non-binary digital creators between the ages of 13-17 from diverse and underrepresented groups.

Criteria:
- Availability during April 18 - June 10, 2022 
- Residing in Europe. UK is included.
- Have a strong command of the English language. 
- Must have a guardian sign on behalf of the participant.
- Access to Discord app via PC or Phone and internet.
- Willingness to create and experiment as well as exchange and learn with peers to develop new skills together.

➣ FINANCIAL reward

In addition to the hardware (an Oculus 2 VR Headset), participants will each receive 400€ incl. tax for participation in the Workshops. The financial reward is meant to honor their creative minds and inspire interest in the immersive technology fields.

➣ ENGAGEMENT OF PARTICIPANTS

Start: April 18, 2022

Participants and Mentors will get to know each other in VR, on the Oculus Head Gear and learn how to use the technology.

Selected participants will meet virtually three times a week for one hour each using the Oculus 2 VR Headset provided by Meta and commit to a total of 24 hours over the course of eight weeks starting April 18.

Workshops will take place on Saturdays, Mondays / Wednesdays and Tuesdays / Thursdays from 5:00 - 6:00 PM (CET). Participants can choose to join either the Mon/Wed sessions or the Tue/Thu sessions in addition to Saturdays.

➣ HOW TO APPLY

This call for participation is open to English speaking European* young women/non-binary ages 13-17. 

Submit your nomination or application before March 5th, 2022 via the application form on WIITs https://www.wiiteurope.org or http://ivg.world/ website.

Announcement of results: 31st March 2022

*European with English as the first or second language. UK is included.

Application Form

WIIT’s Metaverse Creation Lab was a first in-house creative lab dedicated to women, non-binary and diverse gender creators, organized by Women in Immersive Tech Europe, and funded by the WIIT Meta Grant. 

WOMEN IN IMMERSIVE TECH EUROPE

Women in Immersive Tech Europe is a European NGO that wants to break barriers and be an inspiration for Women in Immersive Technologies all over the world. The WIIT community is a place to connect, meet like-minded women and underrepresented groups from across Europe and beyond, and find the resources to learn and grow.

WIIT’S METAVERSE CREATION LAB

WIIT’s Metaverse Creation Lab was a month-long series of workshops around the definition and representation of “self” in a digital context as well as around aspects of responsible creation for online, social XR spaces. The workshop was headed by Sara Lisa Vogl, Co-Founder of WIIT, along with Metaverse experts. 

It was centered around building a virtual avatar that might express a female or diverse identifying individual better in comparison with existing models whilst above all establishing a sense of safety in the metaverse. 

As Sara Lisa Vogl specified, “Individual self-expression in immersive, online social spaces as well as learning new skills and creating content with new peers is at the heart of this Lab. With Meta’s funds, we at WIIT want to support a diverse group of people to participate in the responsible creation of the Metaverse.“

The lab enabled ten women, non-binary and diverse gender individuals to create their unique, virtual identity.

➣ ENGAGEMENT OF PARTICIPANTS

Start March/April

Participants and Mentors got to know each other on a Zoom call and the Lab Team, as well as its participants, were introduced to each other.

Intensive kick-off week plus 3 single days in the following weeks

An intensive kick-off week got participants started and the first exchange could be fostered. Sara Lisa along with other Mentors gave inspirational and educational workshops during that week as well as on the 3 additional dates. The group exchanged and was mentored for the full duration of the month on Discord by five Mentors. To foster exchange and connections WIIT ambassadors and co-founders joined the group for several events and on Discord. 

During the last 9 days, participants were able to finish and polish their work under the guidance of the Mentors on Discord before the exhibition. 

Final Event

To present and promote the created work the Lab ended with an Exhibition Party presenting the participants’ Avatars. You can watch the recording here: