About

Berlin-Brandenburg:
Regional Focus as a Foundation

XRBB strengthens the Berlin-Brandenburg region on a social and economic level. The association’s inclusive networking activities support the increasing structural importance of XR technologies for the region.

In doing so, XRBB’s work reflects the association’s comprehensive understanding of the dynamic, complex and cultural significance of Berlin-Brandenburg as a national and international hotspot for immersive technologies. With this in mind, the goal is to create a powerful network and develop this forward-thinking metropolitan region both internally and externally.

Knowledge Transfer
and Sustainability

XRBB’s non-profit network, which has been growing steadily since 2016, is characterized by its unique, transdisciplinary knowledge transfer program. The basis for this is equal visibility of the numerous and diverse members. Among them are entrepreneurs and investors from various sectors like education, hardware and software development, creative professionals in the fields of visual and performing arts, as well as representatives from cooperating networks who act as multipliers.

XRBB focuses on cross-sector dialogues in order to make the potential of XR technologies available to society as a whole. XRBB considers itself as a reflection point for the public to get introduced to this immersive technology revolution as well as to discuss its risks and benefits. This way, the network helps the ecosystem around this technology to shape itself constructively and sustainably.

Accessibility
and Non-Profit

XRBB’s mission is geared towards safeguarding complex technical developments in the field of extended reality from the potential risks of developing in isolation and towards exclusivity through social initiatives, accessibility, democratic knowledge exchange and collaborative projects. Networks are dynamic structures that generate synergetic effects and reflect the processes and challenges of digitality and virtuality more than any other system.

XRBB recognises the opportunities inherent in this form of networked collaboration and makes it accessible to XR actors regardless of their individual financial situation.

The association was founded as “Virtual Reality Berlin-Brandenburg” (VRBB) in early 2016, with the goal of bringing VR companies together and to develop a sustainable VR industry in the region.

Prior to establishing the association, a group of people from different industries, institutions and government representatives had come together at frequent informal meetings.

The formation of VRBB was the outcome of these multilateral meetings. Its mission and the formation was publicly announced by Brandenburg’s Minister of Economics during re:publica TEN on March 16, 2016. The founding of the society happened at the Film University Conrad Wolf Babelsberg.

The association set up its first international event, VR NOW CON in November 2016 with over 500 attendees and more then 30 speakers. In the following years, VR NOW expanded with multiple satellite events, such as the VR NOW business mixer organised in cooperation with Berlinale and the European Film Market, and the VR NOW Awards, celebrating outstanding technical, commercial and artistic XR achievements.

In 2023, the VRBB changed its name to Extended Reality Berlin-Brandenburg (XRBB)

to reflect the actual range of activities and interests of its members and the industry, which not only include VR, but also augmented reality, mixed reality, 360° videos, volumetric videos, free viewpoint videos and more innovative technologies.

Thanks to our powerful international cross-industry network, we can help our members to generate business, get access to public funds and subsidies, participate in our local and international events, and more.

XRBB is working in multiple areas, from sales & marketing, events & communication to knowledge transfer and R&D.

XRBB is also a key driver in the MediaTech Hub and pushes for the development of a VR/AR innovation center.

XRBB is actively assisting its members with business development. We help clients to understand VR/AR production and find the best match among our members for high-quality VR/AR content, hardware, or research.

For larger scale projects, XRBB helps to form a project-partner team of multiple players, distributing the tasks to dedicated experts such as conceptualization, storytelling, modeling, animation, programming, sound design etc.
Our structure and agile processes constantly bring up new talents and accelerate the development of new products.

Position Paper

In April 2022, the consortium of the Extended Reality Associations in Germany published a position paper in order to formulate our conviction that immersive technologies of extended reality will play an important role in the digitization of science, business, society, culture and education in Germany.

Strategy Paper

Read more about the mission and vision of the XRBB, as well as about what we have defined as requirements to continue and optimize our work.

Press Kit

Download our logo, design manual and info document on the XRBB.