Surplus Welzijn – A new (virtual) reality for Youth work

Breda Picture

Challenge: Wildcard – Propose tech solutions contributing to a breakthrough in intergenerational problems.

Surplus Welzijn – “A new (virtual) reality for Youth work: beyond gaming for fun in applying VR in youth work”.

Aiming to propose a tech solution that would diminish intergenerational problems, Surplus Welzijn has developed a solution where Virtual Reality (VR) is integrated into youth work. By engaging young people as co-creators, the pilot designed two gamified tools – “Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes” and “Wander” – able to strengthen communication skills and foster the participants’ personal development and empowerment. The first aims to help young people set and track personal development goals, while enhancing teamwork and problem-solving skills. The latest game consisted of a social mapping tool that allowed participants to create 360-degree virtual tours of places significant to their lives, facilitating discussions about identity, community, and personal experiences.

Hosting 13 co-creation meetings with VR specialists and 33 interactive sessions with young people ensured the VR tools’ practical application in youth work settings, which enhanced their effectiveness. Additionally, the young people who participated in the co-creation expressed their desire to continue working with it.

Brainstorm en concept – Virtual Reality Training

Breda Picture

Challenge: Wildcard – Propose tech solutions contributing to a breakthrough in intergenerational problems.

Brainstorm en concept – Virtual Reality Training Intergenerational Problems

On behalf of the City of Breda, brainstorm en concept has developed a new VR-interactive application with social impact, as it will contribute to the improvement of intergenerational issues. The aim of this interactive training is to bring different age groups together and create more understanding and empathy for each other. Three different locations in and around Breda have served as locations  for 360-degree films, in which young participants have played the scripts co-written with the elderly. This way, a young person can now look through the eyes of an older person to experience their issues in daily life and sympathize with them. It is possible to implement the application on other Meta Quests by us to make it available for other organisations and hopefully bring a stronger positive impact in other cities.

AR-GO lab Oy – ILI metaverse

Breda Picture

Challenge: How to strengthen the health of youth through attractive and playful technology?

AR-GO lab Oy – ILI metaverse – gamified metaverse to support young people’s mental health and empower them to make the right life choices.

Making healthy life choices might often be difficult for young people. AR-GO lab Oy responded to the challenge of the City of Breda to promote broad positive mental health of youth by developing a safe, reliable, and interactive metaverse virtual space, which offers information, support, and advice for young people in challenging life situations.

The ILI metaverse comprises different rooms with youth-targeted content, animations illustrating real-life situations, and an AI-powered assistant for discussing burning questions. ILI will also challenge users to explore their own city and visit different locations to learn new things, find new hobbies, and live a more active and curious life. Most importantly, ILI’s visuals, scenes, and functionality are developed in close co-creation with both youth work professionals and young people from the Netherlands and Finland.

XS2Content (XS2AUDIO BV) – Video Avatar Influencers

Breda Picture

Challenge: Breda: How can resilient role models help families to develop healthy relationships?

XS2Content (XS2AUDIO BV) – Video Avatar Influencers

According to figures from the Trimbos Institute, last year 10.2% of 12- to 14-year-olds used an e-cigarette. In the first two years of secondary school, young people often come into contact with ‘vapes’. GGD West-Brabant aims to positively influence young people to prevent them from starting to vape.

The European CommuniCity project aims to use new techniques to improve interaction and communication within communities, focusing on enhancing social cohesion and facilitating engagement and collaboration. The Hilversum-based tech startup XS2Content has been selected for this project to find a technological solution for the municipality of Breda to positively influence young people not to start vaping. XS2Content has developed a plan to use animated ‘Video Avatar Influencers’ in co-creation with health institutions and the target group itself to positively influence children not to start vaping. The avatars, tone of voice, and content will be co-created together with the involved parties. They will be loosely based on popular influencers (YouTube/Insta/TikTok) amongst the target group to increase impact and appeal. Naturally, this will also take into account the diversity of cultural backgrounds within the target group and how these specific subgroups want to be addressed. The videos will be produced in portrait format so that they can be used on popular social media platforms such as TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram, amongst others. Texts can also be adjusted, optimized, or updated afterwards on the XS2Content platform.