Four winners of the VR Health Champions Open Call 2025

From 16 competitive applications submitted across Europe, four outstanding SMEs were selected as winners of the VR Health Champions Open Call 2025, showcasing excellence, innovation, and the power to transform healthcare through XR.

Launched on 14 April and closed on 23 June 2025, the VR Health Champions Open Call 2025 attracted innovators from Poland, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, Romania, Latvia and Greece who submitted proposals directly addressing the specific challenges defined by the VR Health Champions consortium, spanning medical simulation, immersive training, regulatory expertise and therapeutic XR. The competition was intense, reflecting the diversity and maturity of Europe’s XR health ecosystem.

After a rigorous evaluation process, four SMEs stood out with their vision, expertise and readiness to accelerate the adoption of XR in healthcare:

• CRITICAL CATALYST (Portugal) – winner of the Virtuleap Challenge. A regulatory powerhouse supporting medical technology companies to navigate MDR and IVDR requirements. Their expertise lies in Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) pathways, risk management and quality systems. Within VR Health Champions, they will collaborate with Virtuleap to ensure regulatory robustness and smooth certification pathways for immersive cognitive training tools.
• INOVA+ (Portugal) – winner of the MEEVA Challenge. A multidisciplinary innovation company with expertise in AI, research and innovation services, and European funding. Their role focuses on developing configurable therapeutic virtual agents within the Zentastic VR platform, in close cooperation with MEEVA, applying explainable AI and RAG systems to maximise impact on neurodiverse health.
• MetaMedicsVR (Spain) – winner of the MetaSkills Challenge. A fast-growing medtech start-up specialising in VR/AR training solutions with international reach. Within VR Health Champions, they will collaborate with MetaSkills to pilot AI-assisted VR soft skills training in European healthcare institutions, engaging stakeholders, testing with 100 professionals, and producing a roadmap for large-scale adoption.
• SimHub by Virmed (Poland) – winner of the MedApp Challenge. Specialists in medical simulation, 3D modelling and immersive XR environments for clinical training. As part of VR Health Champions, they will team up with MedApp to develop a risk assessment framework for surgical navigation systems, providing safe, evidence-based validation of XR technologies in realistic clinical settings.

These four SMEs represent some of the best Europe has to offer at the crossroads of health and technology.  By addressing the specific challenges of the project, they will contribute complementary expertise in areas such as simulation, regulation, training, and AI. This targeted collaboration will create synergies that accelerate the flagship innovations and strengthen Europe’s XR health ecosystem.

“The Open Call has shown how much talent and ambition exist across Europe regarding XR in healthcare. The winners will bring fresh perspectives and while directly addressing the challenges of our flagship SMEs, strengthening collaboration and creating tangible impact for patients and professionals. We are excited to follow their progress in the coming months” said Viola Keresztes, EIT Health InnoStars.

Their success in the Open Call is just the beginning. Over the next six months, they will work closely with the flagship SMEs to implement the selected challenges—testing solutions, fostering collaboration, and preparing the ground for impactful XR adoption across Europe. And to support our flagship SMEs even further, a second round of the VR Health Champions Open Call will be announced very soon!

Stay tuned!