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

Proceed with registration for the NEM Summit 2025 here!

NEM Summit 2025 PROGRAM

DAY 1 – 21 October 2025

Registration desk will be open at 08:30!

09:00 – 11:00 Opening session

Moderator: Halid Hrasnica, Eurescom GmbH

Welcome and key-note talks:

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
Cristina Bueti, ITU: Focal Point on AI-powered Virtual Worlds
… and more to come!

11:00 – 11:30 Break

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

Session chair: Simon Delaere, IMEC

Ethics in Virtual Worlds: an industry perspective, Elmar Arunov, Deutsche Telekom AG
Designing for ethics: the example from PRESENCE, IMEC (speaker to be announced)
Regulatory dimensions, Nathalie Bertels, KULeuven
Towards value driven Virtual Worlds – speaker to be announced
Emerging business models (PopulAR) – speaker to be announced

13:15 – 14:30 Lunch break

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

Session chair: Nico Patz, Deutsche Welle

Visualising ideas and “blind spots” GenKI4Media, Ewelina Dobrzalski, art & com
Cultural adaptation to diverse user needs MOSAIC, Mirko Lorenz, Deutsche Welle
AI Digital Assistants to facilitate access to information, speaker to be announced
Generative AI for the Extended Reality in the Media Sector; Giuseppe Amato, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
GenAI in Education and Immersive Training, speaker to be announced, Fraunhofer FOKUS

16:15 – 16:45 Break

16:45 – 18:30 Networked media

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

The objective of the session is to give the opportunities to NEM Cluster 4 projects and SNS JU projects to make presentations of their results and to organize a discussion between projects. The main point is to identify priorities from both communities as well as potential interactions among the projects and for the future collaboration.

Introduction (Pierre-Yves Danet | 6G-IA)
Presentation of the white paper “6G for Media&Entertainment” (Pierre-Yves Danet | 6G-IA)
Presentation of 6G-BRICKS and SUNRISE-6G (Mario Montagud | I2Cat)
Presentation of PRSENCE XR and HEAT (speaker to be announced)
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.

18:30 – 20:00 NEM Summit Reception

Relaxed networking opportunity with some food and drinks!

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
Standards and recommendations for an inclusive XR Media, Yining Zhao (UN ITU)

10:45 – 11:15 Break

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

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

Cultural heritage, Marco Medici, University of Ferrara
Creative (Art) – speaker to be announced
Fashion – speaker to be announced

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

13:00 – 14:15 Lunch Break

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

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

Confirmed participations:

International Telecommunication Union (ITU), Cristina Bueti
Virtual Worlds Partnership, Theo Papadopoulos, Siemens
European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), Paolo Cesarini
6G Industry Association (6G-IA), Pierre-Yves Danet
ADRA (AI, Data and Robotics Association), name to be announced
… more have been invited!

16:00 – 16:30 Break

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

Closing key-note – to be announced
About NEM activities and future plans
NEM Steering Board elections

Celebrating 20 years of NEM!

Registration

For attending the NEM Summit 2025, the participants have to register for the event until 11 October 2025. The registration fees are set to 199€, including VAT, to cover expenses of catering.