National Growth Fund program CIIIC approved!

The Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition (CIIIC) proposal received final approval Friday, March 15. The National Growth Fund decided to award 102.3 million euros for the first three-year phase and 97.7 million euros conditionally for the second phase. After a conditional award in 2023, the consortium has been able to appropriately fulfill the committee's conditions, allowing CIIIC to start now. The application was submitted by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW). The Creative Industry Top Team, TKI CLICKNL and the Ministries of OCW and EZK took the initiative for the application and they are pleased with the awarding of the CIIIC proposal.

CIIIC's mission is to stimulate the development of immersive experiences (IX) in the Netherlands. By IX you can think of using virtual reality to relive historical events, attend a virtual concert in your living room, visualize planning interventions or learn more effectively in a virtual classroom environment. Such applications are seen worldwide as the third major digital transition.

CIIIC's goal is to act together and proactively to safeguard public interests in this digital transition. The program involves four lines of action:

1. Developing knowledge and tools through applied and practice-based research.
2. Increasing and strengthening the talent pool around IX.
3. Building a strong interactive Dutch IX ecosystem and its facilities.
4. Initiating projects that bring together public and private organizations, creators and applicators.

Crucial to this is a focus on public interests to guide a responsible, socially supported transition to IX

Immersive Experiences are a growing market. CIIIC's ambition is to capitalize on those opportunities. CIIIC will realize the development of practical knowledge and training. Students will be trained to respond to the expected growth of the labor market. Companies and knowledge institutions will work on the development of immersive applications for education and training, for care, for architecture and urban planning, for entertainment and culture, on a large scale and in multiple application areas. Crucial to this is the focus on public interests, to guide a responsible, socially supported transition to IX: security, openness, good governance, transparency and open standards.

And now?
From CLICKNL and the Ministry of OCW, we look forward to getting started with the coalition of 120 parties and working toward a January 1, 2025 start of the program. Leading up to it, CLICKNL will keep you informed of developments through the CIIIC website and newsletter In the video (see above) CIIIC is explained once more.