EmpowerXR-Hackathon: Pitch & Preisverleihung

In the organizer's words:

🔍 EmpowerXR: Insight into research for accessible virtual worlds
Extended reality (XR) offers enormous potential for education, culture and work. But how accessible are these digital spaces really? The EmpowerXR project is investigating the hurdles that people with various impairments encounter in virtual and augmented reality and is looking for technical solutions to break down these barriers. After an intensive research phase and workshops with experts on their own behalf, the next step now follows: practical testing in a hackathon.

💡 The event: presentation of the prototypes
Over the course of 45 hours, international teams from the fields of development and design as well as people with disabilities work together on proposed solutions. The aim is to develop initial prototypes that show how inclusion can be technically implemented in the virtual world.
The results of this intensive phase of work will be presented and awarded prizes as part of a public presentation.

🏠 Location: Church of the Holy Cross, Gelsenkirchen-Ückendorf
📅 Date: Saturday, May 30, 2026 🕕 Start: 6:00 pm
🏆 Program: Pitch of the prototypes & presentation of the EmpowerXR Award followed by networking

✨ Relevance and networking
The event is aimed at those responsible for development, urban society, research and inclusion work. The focus is on discussing the opportunities and challenges of inclusive technologies. The prototypes presented serve as a basis for discussion and show how accessibility can act as a driver of innovation for the XR industry.

📍 Free admission to the event
👉 To enable better planning of the premises, please register in advance at the following link: https://form.jotform.com/261092155020343

EmpowerXR is a project of Paritätische Gelsenkirchen in cooperation with mxr storytelling. Funded by Aktion Mensch and supported by Volksbank Ruhr Mitte.