What’s in the Horizon 2020 programme of the EU for serious gaming? Besides calls in dedicated fields such as nano-electronics, optical networks and cybersecurity, various opportunities show up for gaming, particularly gaming for other than entertainment purposes. Among many dozens of H2020 calls only one call explicitly refers to games:
• Call ICT-21: Advanced digital gaming/gamification technologies
This call, which is open for submission now (deadline April 24th), requires the creation of a repository of core reusable, open gaming components, and it supports technology transfer and small-scale experiments with SMEs.
Nevertheless, many other calls are suited for proposing game-based projects. It is worthwhile considering the following calls:
• Call ICT 10 (2015): Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation
This call is about solutions for social awareness, online collaboration and social inclusion. Already, games have demonstrated to be powerful in these areas.
• Call ICT 18 (2014): Support the growth of ICT innovative Creative Industries SMEs
This call aims to increase the competitiveness of the European creative industries. It covers the transfer of the type of promising technologies that are used in gaming, such as 3D, augmented reality, new human-computer interaction, sensors, and many more.
• Call ICT 19 (2015): Technologies for creative industries, social media and convergence
Similarly this call is about multi-modal, high quality content and new user experiences, and ways to support SMEs in the creative industry sector.
• Call ICT 20 (2015): Technologies for better human learning and teaching
This is typically one of these technology-enhanced learning calls we had before. It re-establishes the adaptive and personalised learning requirement and repeats various other themes as well, such as assessment, neuroscience, ai, sensors, interfaces. All quite suitable for serious games.
• Call ICT 31 (2014): Human-centric Digital Age
This theme covers understanding the impact of new technologies on fundamental notions on the ways people behave, think, interact, work together, socialise and so on. Again: games will be good candidates for exploring the issues.
Note that outside the ICT domain Horizon 2020 various opportunities for serious gaming are in calls in Innovation in SMEs (e.g. learning/training), Health, demographic change and wellbeing (multiple calls), Inclusive, Innovative and Reflective societies (youth, cultural heritage, social innovation), Secure Societies (e.g. crisis management), calls from the European Research Council (frontier research), and of course Marie Curie fellowships (mobility).