The SLDAR project (an acronym for Speckle-free Photonics Integrated Circuit based Light Engine Using Superluminescent Diodes for Next-generation Augmented Reality Glasses) is positioning itself as a strategic initiative to put Europe at the forefront of display technologies for the “virtual world.”
Fundación Ibercivis will act as the expert partner in social sciences and humanities and the implementation of citizen science methodologies. Its main role is to ensure that the project’s technological advances are inclusive, ethical and socially accepted, using citizen science methodologies to do so.
Running for 42 months (from July 2026 to December 2029), this consortium, led by University College Cork (Ireland), brings together seven leading partners to overcome the current barriers facing Augmented Reality (AR) glasses.
An ambitious research framework and a substantial budget
Framed within the Horizon Europe programme (call HORIZON-CL4-2025-03-HUMAN-14), the project has a total budget of €5,996,482.50, fully funded by the European Union. This investment is significant, given that the AR market in Europe is expected to exceed €20 billion over the next decade.
The technical goal is groundbreaking: to develop light engines for AR glasses that are compact (under 1 cm³), high-resolution, and consume six times less power than current models, making all-day use possible.
Ibercivis: guaranteeing social adoption and ethics
Within this technologically high-profile consortium, our foundation will play a critical role as the expert partner in implementing citizen science methodologies, social sciences and the humanities. Our mission is to ensure that the technology is not only advanced, but also inclusive, ethical and socially accepted.
Responsibilities and key tasks
Ibercivis is actively contributing to the project’s work package on user validation and social adoption of the prototypes developed by the project, working closely with the industrial giant ZEISS. Its main tasks include:
- Recruitment strategy: Ibercivis will design the protocols for attracting a diverse group of participants (taking into account age, gender, socioeconomic status and visual conditions).
- Social adoption studies: During the project’s third year, it will coordinate studies with three citizen groups (experienced users, non-users, and people trying out commercial glasses) to identify what motivates or discourages them from using this technology.
- Data-collection tools: It will create structured online diaries, semi-structured interview guides and recruitment materials co-created with the other partners.
- Data and server management: The foundation provides the server infrastructure needed to store and manage citizens’ data securely, in strict compliance with the GDPR and research ethics standards.
Milestones and expected outcomes
Ibercivis’s contributions will result in public deliverables that are essential to the project’s commercial success:
- A report on the social adoption study.
- A roadmap for the responsible adoption of AR glasses, which will guide industry in crossing the “valley of death” between the lab and the market.
Challenges and connection with the consortium
The biggest challenge for Ibercivis is ensuring the representativeness of the citizen sample and the quality of the data collected. To mitigate these risks, the foundation will make available to the project its database of more than 80,000 citizens who have taken part in previous citizen science initiatives.
Ibercivis acts as the link between technical development and human needs. Its findings will feed directly into the work of industrial partners such as CREAL and ZEISS, helping them adjust the design of the prototypes based on end users’ perceptions of comfort, usability and privacy.
The importance of securing European funding
For Ibercivis, taking part in SLDAR reinforces its track record of success in securing competitive funding, adding to other Horizon Europe projects such as ECS, PLAN-B and ATRIUM.
This ability to attract European funding allows the foundation to sustain a team of senior and early-career researchers, maintain and improve its own technological infrastructure (ICT servers and the environmental monitoring app Geonity) in the service of open science, and further establish citizen science as a valid and necessary methodology for responsible industrial development in Europe.
In short, SLDAR is not just a step forward in photonics; it is an example of how European research brings in the voice of its citizens from the earliest stages, to build a more human and sustainable digital future.