The VOXReality project is driving innovation in Extended Reality (XR) by bridging this technology with real-world applications. At the heart of this initiative is F6S, a key partner ensuring the seamless execution of open calls and supporting third-party projects (TPs) from selection to implementation. In this interview, we sit down with Mateusz Kowacki from F6S to discuss their role in the consortium, the impact of mentorship, and how the project is shaping the future of AI and XR technologies.
Can you provide an overview of your organization's involvement in the VOXReality project and your specific role within the consortium?
F6S played a crucial operational role in the VOXReality project by managing the preparation and execution of the open calls. This thorought approach involved: designing the application process: determining eligibility criteria, application requirements and eveluation metrics, developing and disseminating the call, managing selection and implementation of the TP’s projects.
Essentially, F6S acted as the facilitator ensuring a smooth and efficient process of preparing and implementing open calls.
How do you ensure that both mentors and the projects they guide benefit from the mentorship process, and what does that look like in practice?
There are a lot of important factors that made the process of mentoring within VOXReality project a success but one of the key elements might be communication. That involves clearly outline of the roles and responsibilities of both the mentor and the project team. This includes setting expectations for communication frequency, meeting schedules, and deliverables. What is more regular check in with both mentors and projects to assess progress, identify any challenges, and provide support. Gather feedback on the mentorship experience to continuously improve the program. Those are for sure the core and basic elements of successful implementation. What we also developed in a sprint 2, based on lessons learnt from sprint 1, is a clear calendar of upcoming activities that involve TP’s and mentors. That help us with better execution and better understanding of our tasks.
Regular meetings, checkups, openness to discuss have also played a crucial role. F6S helped all partners to better execute and navigate through the implementation of open call.
How does the VOXReality team ensure that the XR applications being developed are both innovative and practical for real-world use?
The VOXReality team employs a multi-faceted approach to ensure that the XR applications being developed are both innovative and practical for real-world use. By funding projects through open calls, VOXReality fosters innovation and encourages a diverse range of ideas and approaches. This collaborative approach ensures that the development of XR applications benefits from the expertise of a wider community, leading to more creative and practical solutions. So basically, the whole selection process has been designed to cover as innovative technologies as possible. We have been lucky to attract a lot of application, so our selection of 5 TP’s has not been an easy task as a lot of projects represented good value of innovations and real-world use. Nevertheless, we believe that those five selected entities represent the best potential for future development, and we are sure that their pursuit for innovation will end up with their success.
The language translation system for VOXReality prioritizes cultural sensitivity and artistic integrity by relying on these literary translations, which capture the cultural nuances and emotional subtleties of the original text. To ensure that these aspects are preserved throughout the development, we conduct thorough evaluations of the translation outputs through internal checks. This evaluation is crucial for verifying that the translations maintain the intended cultural and artistic elements, thereby respecting the integrity of the original performance.
How do you think the VOXReality Open Call and the coaching process will shape the success and growth of innovative projects in the XR and AI fields?
I believe that the idea of cascade funding is crucial for discovering potential in small teams of creative professionals and for sure the projects like VOXReality help to leverage their activities to the higher level and bigger audience. The role of a coach is to ensure successful implementation of TP’s project within VOXReality but also to see the bigger picture of possibilities within the sector of public funded projects.
What excites you most about the Third-Party Projects joining VOXReality, and how do you believe AI and XR technologies will reshape the industries they are targeting?
The cooperation with them. That’s for sure very interesting to see, how they work, how they interact. The dynamism, agility but at the same time keeping the deadlines and meeting expectations. It is something for sure that can inspire. Not only them but also bigger entities to think sometimes outside the box, to leave the comfort zone. For some of those entities the project with VOXReality project is a game changer in their entrepreneurial history, and we are very happy to be the part of it. XR technologies have very big potential of changing and creating our everyday life but we need always to see the real, social value into what we are doing within XR technologies. That’s one of the mottos we have in VOXReality. To bring real value to the society.

Mateusz Kowacki
EU Project Manager @ F6S