About This Course

HERO-IG is aimed to train researchers and professionals for the applied gaming and robotics sectors applications in Education and Health.

The HERO-IG Winter Schoool is supported by EIT-CC and organized by University of Bologna, Universitè Paris 8, Almacube, DocCreativity and Develop-Players. The course is designed to train a new generation of researchers and professionals for the applied gaming, and robotics sectors with a specific focus on their applications in Education, and Health. The programme integrates theoretical foundations and hands-on laboratory practice, combining technological expertise (XR, AI, robotics, game development) with entrepreneurial, ethical and societal dimensions, so that candidates are able to translate research prototypes into validated, market-ready products and services.

The HERO-IG module fosters innovation in applied gaming and social robotics for education, health, and cultural contexts, ensuring that their potential for positive societal impact is fully harnessed. Addressed to PhD and Master candidates from partner institutions and international collaborators, the module combines technological, methodological, and entrepreneurial competences within a hybrid learning environment (asynchronous MOOC and on-site labs in Bologna and Paris). Its overarching aim is to prepare a new generation of researcher-innovators capable of designing, prototyping, validating, and disseminating applied games and social artificial agents that respond to real needs in educational and healthcare settings, while operating fluently across disciplinary boundaries.

The programme is structured in six Learning Pathways (LP), co-developed by academic partners (UNIBO, Paris 8), a start-up hub (AlmaCube), an industrial partner (Doc Creativity), and a research-driven start-up (Develop-Players), with the involvement of external stakeholders from health, education, and the creative industries.

• LP1 — Foundations of Applied Gaming introduces production landscapes, genres, video-game elements, and the ethical principles that guide game design in applied contexts.
• LP2 — Tech & Innovation Pt.1: XR, AI and Game Development covers hardware and software fundamentals, UI/UX design, AI applied to games, and hands-on work in Extended Reality and Unity 3D within the UNIBO VARLab.
• LP3 — Tech & Innovation Pt.2: AI, Social Robotics and HRI focuses on social artificial agents (robotic and virtual) for education and health, with hands-on tutorials on NAO/Pepper robots and virtual agents, assistive technology and accessibility, and a hackathon on Social Artificial Agents at Paris 8 CHArt Lab.
• LP4 — Gaming for Health and Education addresses evidence-based use of applied games for cognitive assessment, rehabilitation, health promotion, learning, and inclusion; research methods for product validation; participatory and user-centred design; and the collaborative development of a Proof-of-Concept and Game Design Document.
• LP5 — Entrepreneurship and Innovation Ecosystem develops market analysis and customer discovery, value-proposition design, testing and user requirements, business modelling, growth strategies, and pitch preparation, culminating in a one-to-one mentoring path with AlmaCube and industry mentors.
• LP6 — Impact, Dissemination and Future Skills builds on Diversity & Inclusion in applied gaming, an EIT-aligned Impact Assessment framework, communication and dissemination strategies, and a final Meet Investors event where team projects are pitched to investors, business angels, and accelerators.

HERO-IG brings a unique innovative approach through five interconnected features: (i) active interactions with multi-professional teams — researchers, entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, tech leads, educators, health professionals, designers, artists, narrative designers, and creative professionals; (ii) on-site use of advanced digital tools (XR, AI, robotics) within consolidated research labs — the VARLab at UNIBO and the CHArt Lab at Paris 8 — that ensure the strengthening of digital competences; (iii) an entrepreneurship component enabling students to prototype, validate, and prepare a business model to bring their solution to the applied-gaming market; (iv) an explicit focus on impact, ethics, and inclusion, embedded throughout game design and business modelling; and (v) hybrid training modules alternating asynchronous learning and in-person activities, designed to reinforce critical and adaptive competences.

Target

Primary Target: PhD and Master students

Secondary Target: Professionals from gaming sector

Outcomes

UThe student is able to perform the following core functions:

• Design applied games and interactive robots for specific target users (learners, patients, neurodiverse populations, vulnerable groups), following participatory and user-centred design methods. Develop prototypes and proofs of concept (POCs) using XR/VR/AR technologies, Unity, AI components and social robotics platforms.
• Apply rigorous research methods to validate the educational, cognitive or clinical effectiveness of applied games, producing scientific outputs and structured evaluation plans.
• Translate prototypes into viable products through business modelling, value proposition design, market analysis and pitching to investors.
• Embed ethics-by-design, accessibility, inclusivity and sustainability principles across the full lifecycle of applied gaming projects
• Communicate and disseminate research and innovation outputs to academic, industrial, policy and general-public audiences, and act as bridge between researchers, creative professionals, clinicians, educators and entrepreneurs in interdisciplinary teams.

Course Professors

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