Context

You are invited to participate and contribute to the activities of the OPENVERSE project (hereafter ‘the project’), that is co-funded by the European Commission under the Horizon Europe Programme. Participants will engage in workshops consisting of a semi-structured series of activities within/related to selected VWs to explore and apply co-design tools and methodologies. Activities include engaging in co-creation/co-design tasks, and providing feedback on their experiences, the guidelines provided, and the tools offered to support co-creation. Your participation is voluntary, you are free to withdraw at any time before or during the activities you are involved in by using the contact details provided in this document. Before you decide whether to take part, please take some time to read the following information carefully. Please, feel free to ask questions if more information or clarifications are needed using the contact details in the last section of this document.

A knowledge base on European virtual worlds

Europe is advocating for the development of open, inclusive and ethical virtual worlds that emphasise the technological sovereignty of the EU industry. This vision aims to deliver benefits such as enhanced accessibility, increased freedom and control, reduced entry barriers and a more equitable distribution of resources. Furthermore, it places a premium on interoperability, privacy, security and data ownership to promote innovation, creativity and social benefits. The EU-funded OPENVERSE project is dedicated to creating a knowledge base on European virtual worlds. To that end, it will establish a community of stakeholders, test user co-creation and extended reality, explore challenges, and generate standards, technology roadmaps and recommendations. These outputs are intended to guide the future establishment of the Open Virtual Worlds concept in Europe and globally.

The OPENVERSE Consortium consists of 11 participants, partners and third-party entities:

Participants

  • THE LISBON COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS ASBL, established in RUE DE LA LOI 155 RESIDENCE PALACE IPC, BRUXELLES 1040, Belgium
  • IDC ITALIA SRL, established in VIALE MONZA 14, MILANO 20127, Italy
  • TRUST-IT SRL, established in VIA FRANCESCO REDI 10, PISA 56124, Italy
  • COMMPLA SRL (third-party), established in VIA FRANCESCO REDI 10, PISA 56124, Italy
  • POLITECNICO DI MILANO, established in PIAZZA LEONARDO DA VINCI 32, MILANO 20133, Italy
  • NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY, established in UNIVERSITY ROAD, GALWAY H91 TK33, Ireland
  • VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL, established in PLEINLAAN 2, BRUSSEL 1050, Belgium
  • XR4EUROPE, established in AVENUE DES ARTS 56, BRUXELLES 1000, Belgium
  • INTERNATIONAL DATA SPACES EV, established in EMIL FIGGE STRASSE 80, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
  • DATA AI AND ROBOTICS DAIRO, established in AVENUE DES AVENUE DES ARTS 56, 1000 BRUXELLES, Belgium

Partners

  • MARTEL GMBH, established in UBERLANDSTRASSE 111, 8600 Dubendorf, Switzerland
  • INSPIRING FUTURES SÀRL, established in Chemin du Liaudoz 45, 1009 Pully, Switzerland

Your personal data will be processed in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation). 

The legal basis for the processing activity is Article 5(1)(d) of Regulation EU 2018/1725 based on your explicit consent for your personal data indicated below. 

The data controller of the processing operation is POLITECNICO DI MILANO. The registration platform used is EU Survey (https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey), the platform’s privacy statement can be examined at https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/auth/ps, accessed on 21/03/2025.  

The following entities process your personal data:

  • THE LISBON COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS ASBL, established in RUE DE LA LOI 155 RESIDENCE PALACE IPC, BRUXELLES 1040, Belgium
  • IDC ITALIA SRL, established in VIALE MONZA 14, MILANO 20127, Italy
  • TRUST-IT SRL, established in VIA FRANCESCO REDI 10, PISA 56124, Italy
  • COMMPLA SRL (third-party), established in VIA FRANCESCO REDI 10, PISA 56124, Italy
  • POLITECNICO DI MILANO, established in PIAZZA LEONARDO DA VINCI 32, MILANO 20133, Italy
  • NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND GALWAY, established in UNIVERSITY ROAD, GALWAY H91 TK33, Ireland
  • VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSEL, established in PLEINLAAN 2, BRUSSEL 1050, Belgium
  • XR4EUROPE, established in AVENUE DES ARTS 56, BRUXELLES 1000, Belgium
  • INTERNATIONAL DATA SPACES EV, established in EMIL FIGGE STRASSE 80, 44227 Dortmund, Germany
  • DATA AI AND ROBOTICS DAIRO, established in AVENUE DES AVENUE DES ARTS 56, 1000 BRUXELLES, Belgium
  • MARTEL GMBH, established in UBERLANDSTRASSE 111, 8600 Dubendorf, Switzerland
  • INSPIRING FUTURES SÀRL, established in Chemin du Liaudoz 45, 1009 Pully, Switzerland

The data collected are stored on Microsoft SharePoint (please see SharePoint Privacy Statement), managed by the project coordinator, THE LISBON COUNCIL FOR ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS ASBL.

The workshops are organised in the context of the OpenVerse project, which is co-funded by the European Union, your personal data might be shared with authorised staff members of the European Commission. 

Your personal data will not be transferred to third countries or international organisations, except for data collected by the above-mentioned services, based on their terms of service and privacy statements, listed above, and to partners of the OpenVerse project based outside the European Union (listed above). The partners based outside the European Union are located in countries which are covered by adequacy decisions. 

Your personal data are collected based on your explicit prior consent, in case you decide to interact on social media, or on interactive platforms used during the co-design processes: photo or video materials depicting you, your social media account handles, comments you decide to share, feedback, questions, contributions during the event or meeting. 

The workshops will utilise or refer to the following Virtual Worlds as platforms for the activities:

Your contact and personal data will be collected with the following purposes:

  • Observing and documenting the co-design processes and outcomes during the workshop.
  • Evaluating the efficacy of the methodologies introduced during the workshop.
  • Understand how different Virtual Worlds can support or hinder the design of innovation across various industries.
  • To refine and improve the co-design tools based on participant feedback and interactions.
  • Evaluating the market potential of co-designed outputs in a follow-up session.

Using collected data for dissemination and research purposes, which includes publishing findings in academic or industry publications and presentations at conferences. All publications will respect the ownership and authorship of the workshop participants, ensuring: (i) Personal data is not disclosed but anonymised; (ii) Profiling data is used only in aggregated form to prevent identification of individual participants.

Data will be retained for a period of 5 years following the end of the project to allow for comprehensive analysis, reporting, and publication related to the scope of the OPENVERSE project.

  • All outputs co-designed during the workshop by participants remain the intellectual property of their creators.
  • Participants grant the workshop organisers the right to use these outputs solely for the purpose of evaluation and study within the context of the OPENVERSE project and publications about its results.

By participating in this activity, you will be asked to provide us with the following information:

Profiling for project reporting:

  • Name and surname
  • Email address
  • Job title or short biography
  • Country of residence
  • Familiarity with the Virtual Worlds platforms used
  • Industry connection (if applicable)

Data generated during the co-design process:

  • Insights about the co-design process
  • Feedback on the methodologies used
  • Opinions on how these methodologies support innovation design
  • Details about the outputs co-designed by participants, including descriptions, design specifics, and functionality
  • Specific feedback on the workshop’s methodology, participant engagement in co-design activities, and qualitative assessments of the tools and virtual environments
Right to view personal data
(right of access)		You have a right of access to the data that are processed about you and to various other information.
Right to rectification
(correction)		You have the right to have inaccurate personal data about you rectified.
Right to restriction
of processing		In certain circumstances, you have the right to have the processing of your personal data restricted.
Right to objectn certain circumstances, you have the right to object to the otherwise lawful processing of your personal data by the responsible partner.

You may retract your consent at any time by writing to [email protected], without affecting the lawfulness of the processing based on your consent before its withdrawal. Your request to exercise one of the rights listed above will be dealt with within one month. 

If you have any question or request related to the current project, activity, or data treatment process please contact [email protected]. 

A PDF copy of the Privacy Statement can be downloaded here.