Connected Realities:

Co-Creating Europe’s Ethical, Inclusive, and Sustainable Future Media

~ in Berlin on 21/22 October 2025 ~

Fraunhofer FOKUS is kindly offering the venue for the event @ Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31, 10589 Berlin, Germany

Presentations from the event, so far made available for publication, can be seen along the NEM Summit agenda below.

NEM Summit 2025 PROGRAM

DAY 1 – 21 October 2025

09:00 – 11:00 Opening session

The opening session is dedicated to Professor Jose Manuel Menéndez, for many years member of the NEM Steering Board, our collegaue and friend, who passed away on 18 September 202

Moderator: Halid Hrasnica, Eurescom GmbH

Welcome and key-note talks:

Virtual Worlds Unleashed: The Tech Shaping Tomorrow’s Immersive Media
- Louay Bassbouss, Fraunhofer FOKUS

Virtual Worlds and Web4.0 EU Strategy: The Road So Far—and the Road Ahead
- Anne Bajart, Deputy Head of EC Unit G.2: Interactive technologies, Digital for Culture & Education

Virtual Worlds Strategy as an Innovation Compass: Using Virtual Worlds as a compass, XRBB turns fragmented XR experiments into focused, chapter-driven innovation with real-world adoption
- Tim Deussen, Chairperson XRBB, Founder Studio Deussen

From Standards to Impact: ITU’s Role in the Future of AI-Powered Virtual Worlds
- Cristina Bueti, International Telecommunication Union (ITU): Focal Point on AI-powered Virtual Worlds

11:30 – 13:15 Ethical and business aspects of virtual worlds

Session chair: Simon Delaere, IMEC-smit, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (NEM Chair)

Towards value driven Virtual Worlds, Heleen Rouw, Managing Director Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition (CIIIC)
Ethics in Virtual Worlds: an industry perspective, Elmar Arunov, Deutsche Telekom AG
Designing for ethics: the example from PRESENCE, Iris Jennes, IMEC-smit, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Virtual Worlds, Regulatory Reality, Nathalie Bertels, KULeuven
Doing business in XR: a reality check, Laszlo Arnould, PopulAR

14:30 – 16:15 Generative AI in Media: Enabling new perspectives

Session chair: Nico Patz, Deutsche Welle

Visualising ideas and “blind spots”, Ewelina Dobrzalski, ART + COM Studios
Scaling Cultural Nuance: How AI Can (and Can’t) Serve Diverse European Audiences, Mirko Lorenz, Deutsche Welle
AI Digital Assistants to facilitate access to information, Liliana Trif, druid.ai
Generative AI for the Extended Reality in the Media Sector; Giuseppe Amato, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
GenAI in Education and Immersive Training, The-Anh Nguyen , Fraunhofer FOKUS

16:45 – 18:30 Networked media

Session chair: Pierre-Yves Danet, 6G-IA

This session has the objective to present what SNS JU projects has developed in term of use cases and technologies. The objective is also to open discussion and potential cooperations between the Media&Entertainment sector stakeholders and the Smart Connectivity technology providers. This session will also be the occasion to make a presentation of a white paper developed by the SNS JU project entitled “6G for Media&Entertainment”. At the end, the idea id to collect research topics that could feed the next SNS JU WP2027.

Intro (Pierre-Yves Danet | 6G-IA)
Presentation of the white paper “6G for Media&Entertainment” (Pierre-Yves Danet | 6G-IA)
Presentation of the 5GMAG activities (Daniel Silhavy | 5GMAG)
Presentation of 6G-BRICKS, 6G-XR and SUNRISE-6G (Mario Montagud | I2Cat)
Presentation of PRESENCE XR (Sergi Fernandez Langa | I2Cat)
Panel discussion (Presenters)
- Which M&E services are requiring advanced connectivity?
- What 6G will bring to M&E services?
Closing
- Take Home – One concept, one idea, or one word

DAY 2 – 22 October 2025

09:00 – 10:45 Media tools, services, standards, and methodologies for an Inclusive XR Media Europe

Session chair: Pilar Orero, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Easy-to-understand news across Europe ENACT, Anna Matamala (UAB, TransMedia Catalonia, AccessCat)
Inclusive narratives: Designing with and for all through AI and co-creation, Makrina Kosti (CERTH)
XR4Human Code of Conduct for the Human-Centered and Ethical Development of Immersive Technologies, Rosemarie de la Cruz, XR4Human

After the presentations, the session will include a panel discussion with the speakers and the audience.

11:15 – 13:00 Arts and Culture using Virtual worlds

Session chairs: Andrew Perkis, Norwegian University of Technology (NTNU), and Alexandru Stan, IN2

Creative (Art), Maurizio Murroni, University of Cagliari
Fashion – using Crafts as the binding tool, Lili Eva Bartha, Founder and CEO of GENERA LABS
Cultural heritage, Marco Medici, University of Ferrara and co-founder at Inception srl.

After the presentations, the session will include a panel discussion with the speakers and the audience.

14:15 – 16:00 European Initiatives – exploring collaboration potential

Session chairs: Silvia Boi, Sistemi Nalder, and Mike Matton, VRT (NEM Chairs)

Confirmed participations:

Virtual Worlds Partnership, Theo Papadopoulos, Siemens
6G Industry Association (6G-IA), Pierre-Yves Danet
ADRA (AI, Data and Robotics Association), Philip Piatkievicz, secretary-general
Knut Blind, Fraunhofer, ” Reinforcing European Presence in the International Standardisation Landscape – Impact and highlights from the StandICT.eu 2026 project”
XR4Europe, Sönke Kirchhof
… more have been invited!

16:30 – 18:00 Closing session & NEM General Assembly

An audiovisual journey through the use of art and technology in Virtual World

Session chair: Malte Behrmann, Gisma

Results of ULTIMATE (ULTIMATE’s STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT) project, Andrew Perkis, Norwegian University of Technology (NTNU)
“Flors de Veu“ (“Flowers of voice” or “Voices in Bloom”): a digital garden grown from our voices, Frances Mas Peinado, 3cat
CINEMA FUTURO, Marina Bresciani, SPA – SMART PROJECT AGENCY Srl
HERIFORGE (cultural HERitage and Immersive technologies for innovation FORGE) project, Maciej Glowiak, Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center