Advanced digital gaming/gamification technologies

Specific Challenge: Digital games and gamification mechanics applied in non-leisure contexts is an important but scattered industry that can bring high pay-offs and lead to the emergence of a prospering market. Digital games can also make a real change in the life of a large number of targeted excluded groups, enhancing their better integration in society.  This requires however the development of new methodologies and tools to produce, apply and use digital games and gamification techniques in non-leisure contexts, as well as building scientific evidence on their benefits - for governments, enterprises and individuals.

Scope:

a.      Research & Innovation actions: Multidisciplinary research experimentations and collaboration on advanced digital gaming technologies and components (including game engines, emergent narrative, virtual characters, interaction systems and alternative human-machine interfaces, 3D, textures, models for simulations, game design, learner profiles, emotional models, etc.) produced by and for the traditional digital game industry but applied into wider scenario of use in non-leisure contexts. Activities must lead to the creation of a repository of core reusable, open components to enable publishers and game producers as well as user organisations and individual programmers to build specific games applications in non-leisure contexts. Application scenarios will focus on learning and skills acquisition in formal and informal education, in workplace learning and in policy making and collective social and public processes.

b.      Innovation actions: Stimulate technology transfer and new non-leisure applications by SMEs traditionally working on digital games through coordinating and incubating small scale experiments, thus underpinning new market developments on digital games for learning and skills acquisition, and for empowerment and social inclusion. The activities should also allow the accumulation of scientific evidence of the effectiveness of such approaches for specific target groups or problems.

Expected impact:

         Increase the number of collaborations between traditional digital game industry players and a broader research community (neurosciences, educational physiology, pedagogy, etc.), intermediaries (teachers, trainers) and users from a wide area of application contexts.

         Increase the effectiveness of digital games for professionals and researchers, intermediaries and social actors dealing with people with disabilities or at risk of exclusion (socially, physically or technologically disadvantaged groups) and of those who consider themselves unsuited for education.

Types of action:

a.       Research & Innovation Actions – Proposals requesting a Large contribution are expected

b.      Innovation Actions – Proposals requesting a Small contribution are expected