Innovation Impact Challenge: IX for the Future of Work

Why does IX matter for the future of work?

The world of work is constantly changing. New technologies offer opportunities to organise work more intelligently and efficiently, but they also call for new ways of working and learning. At the same time, it's important to keep people in sustainable employment, retain talent in the region, and ensure employees can keep working in a healthy and enjoyable way. Immersive experiences (IX) can help by making new work situations tangible and easier to understand, preparing people for change, and supporting the adoption of technology.

Who is this for?

This Challenge is aimed at:

• IX creators
• creative entrepreneurs with knowledge of or experience in IX
• innovative companies actively collaborating within the IX domain

who want to use immersive experiences (IX) to help build a future-proof labour market and a healthy, inclusive working environment.

What is the Innovation Impact Challenge?

The Innovation Impact Challenge is an innovation competition that challenges entrepreneurs to develop new products or services as solutions to a societal challenge. The aim is to arrive at innovations that can ultimately be procured by public sector organisations.

The Challenge consists of two phases:

• Phase 1: Feasibility study (including, where needed, finding partners to collaborate with)
• Phase 2: Development and testing of a prototype

The challenge

For this Innovation Impact Challenge, we're looking for immersive experiences (IX) that contribute to the future of work. The challenge is divided into three themes, each with its own case owner:

Theme 1 – Mental resilience in tomorrow's workplace | Case owner: UWV

This theme focuses on how immersive experiences can help create a working environment that better reflects employees' needs — so people can keep working in a healthy, enjoyable way in sectors where workload is high or expected to rise, where the work is physically demanding, and where staff shortages are an issue.

Theme 2 – Future prospects for Breda and the region | Case owner: Municipality of Breda

This theme focuses on how immersive experiences can give young people a realistic picture of the future of working, learning and living in the region — helping them get to know the opportunities the region has to offer and consider staying.

Theme 3 – Technology adoption in the workplace | Case owner: Erasmus MC

This theme focuses on how immersive experiences can support the introduction, use and lasting adoption of new technologies and work processes in the workplace.

Budget

• Phase 1:
• • €750,000 total budget for the whole of phase 1
  • maximum of €25,000 per project
• Phase 2:
• • €3,000,000 total budget for the whole of phase 2
  • maximum of €200,000 per project for developing and testing a prototype

All amounts include VAT.

Want to know more?

Visit the RVO website for more information about the Challenge and its conditions.

Applying

You can submit your Expression of Interest from 2 November up to and including 30 November 2026 at 17:00.

Information session

On Wednesday 11 November 2026, from 14:00 to 17:00, CIIIC and RVO are hosting an online information session. During this session, you'll get an explanation of the procedure, the societal challenges, and the guidelines for innovation. There will also be an opportunity to ask questions.

Visit the RVO event page (opens in new window) to sign up.

Tips & tricks for applicants

This is already the fourth Innovation Impact Challenge we're running together with RVO! That's why we've put together a handy list of tips and tricks to help your application go smoothly:

• Start early: submitting through the e-loket can raise questions along the way, so it's best to start sooner rather than later.
• Everyone is welcome: do you have (or almost have) a Chamber of Commerce (KvK) number? Then you can submit an EoI.
• No consortium required: you can also take part on your own. During phase 1, you can fill any knowledge gaps or look for collaboration partners as needed.
• Public values self-assessment: this is part of the procedure. Keep this in mind as you develop your idea.
• Think from practice: make sure your proposal fits well with the challenge and the needs of the case owner (UWV, Municipality of Breda or Erasmus MC).
• Keep the timeline in mind: the deadline for submitting your EoI is 30 November 2026 at 17:00.

Online office hours

Do you have questions about the Challenge, or would you like to talk through your idea? From Tuesday 3 November, CIIIC is holding digital office hours every Tuesday from 11:00 to 12:00 with Dominique van Ratingen, Project Manager Innovation & Scaling.

Dominique is happy to think along with you. It's a low-key way to ask questions, explore ideas, and figure out together what next steps make the most sense.

Practical details

• By appointment: email dominique@ciiic.nl and let us know when you'd like to meet.
• Duration: maximum 30 minutes.
• Location: online.

These office hours run up until the submission deadline of 30 November 2026.