The XR Cosmos at the Foundation of the Hellenic World, has to do with the full scope of the innovative uses of Extended Reality technology and applications and the development of the local XR ecosystem.

The Foundation of the Hellenic World is a combination of a research center that specializes in the digitization and preservation of intangible heritage with a cultural center ("Tholos" a virtual reality dome theatre, arts and exhibitions) that specializes in the provision of educational services as well as a major educational and cultural venue for the community. Since the late 90s, its “3D Graphics and Virtual Reality Department” has been using cutting edge technologies to represent the past aiming at different audiences ranging from school visitors to academics.

Some of the projects in which we participate are the following and represent several of our research activities and interests. These projects are funded by both national and European resources

• Center for Research, Development and Excellence in the field of Virtual and Augmented Reality. The purpose of the project is to create a Center for Research, Development and Excellence in the field of Virtual and Augmented Reality, which will have as individual objectives the promotion of innovation and research in this area in collaboration with the academic - research community and the development and provision of the necessary tools for the easy creation of Virtual and Augmented Reality applications. Moreover The Center for Research, Development and Excellence in the field of Virtual and Augmented Reality will have the ability and responsibility to assign the elaboration of research works and research projects and targeted studies to distinguished - in the specific field - scientists from Greece and abroad with the aim of creating products and services that improve the educational experience, strengthen the interconnection of the production process with the applied research) scientific research and to create dynamic channels of permanent cooperation, with the most important research centers and academic institutions that have to demonstrate work in this field.
  
  
• Smart Subs: subtitling app for watching live performances. The aim of the project is to develop and improve the existing know-how / technology and applications of language recognition and sentence tagging as well as to develop and promote research to synchronize live oral performances (sound) and written subtitles to develop an application for "smart wearable glasses", which will allow subtitles to be displayed on smart-glasses in theatrical performances and generally live cultural activities. The application creates an innovative way of providing subtitles in live performances that provides uninterrupted viewing of the performance and enhances the viewer's experience compared to hitherto solutions. It is addressed to deaf / hard of hearing and the elderly, making cultural content accessible to people with hearing problems through Greek subtitles in order to combat social exclusion. Cultural content will also be made accessible to foreign-language audiences through subtitles in different languages at the same time, thus contributing to the promotion of the cultural heritage and the further development of the touristic product. The application can be used with the same technical requirements in different locations (outdoor and indoor theaters, dome theaters etc).
  
  
• BRIDGES (A hyBRID (physical-diGital) multi-user Extended reality platform as a stimulus for industry uptake of interactive technologieS) project proposes to bring a holistic solution to the market for (remote and co-located) group interaction in room-scale immersive eXtended Reality (XR) environments that blend the physical and virtual space. The immersive interactive technologies have the potential to build on Europe’s creativity, skills and cultural diversity, and impact various domains – from manufacturing, engineering and architecture to education, healthcare, the arts, entertainment and culture. The BRIDGES solution is based on the existing platform Immersive DeckⓇ, which has been researched and developed by one of the BRIDGES research partners (the Technical University of Vienna) and extended by one of the BRIDGES industrial partners (the SMEIllusion Walk). Immersive DeckⓇ will be further researched and developed into a turn-key, flexible and scalable product that can find applications in different industries. The project will carry out extensive and comprehensive studies to validate the proposed solution “in-the-wild”, focusing and piloting on the areas of industrial training and informal learning/edutainment with the real world settings of major international airports in Germany and Greece for firefighters’ training and the experience of informal learning at the Foundation of Hellenic World. BRIDGES aims to support and boost the pan-European interactive technologies sector by providing replicability recommendations and scale-up guidelines for deploying the resulting XR platform in other domains. https://www.bridges-horizon.eu/