CLIPE Project

What CLIPE Project does

CLIPE (Creating Lively Interactive Populated Environments) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Innovative Training Network funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 860768. The project was coordinated by the University of Cyprus and ran from March 1, 2020 to February 2024. It is not a commercial company; rather, it is a publicly funded doctoral training consortium that recruited and trained 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) in techniques for designing next-generation VR-ready virtual characters, including machine learning-based animation, procedural crowd simulation, and perceptual evaluation methods.

The consortium comprised 9 universities/research centers (University of Cyprus, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, INRIA, University College London, Trinity College Dublin, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Ecole Polytechnique, and Silversky3d) and 5 industrial partners (Treedy's SPRL, Amazon Development Center Germany, BBC, Golaem, and Ubisoft). Research outputs included named algorithms such as SparsePoser (deep learning full-body pose reconstruction from sparse trackers), ECON (3D clothed human reconstruction from images), DART (hand model with accessories and textures), Motion Matching with Orientation Prediction for consumer-grade VR, and crowd authoring tools. PhD-level work was published in top venues including ACM SIGGRAPH, CVPR, Eurographics, IEEE VR, and NeurIPS.

CLIPE did not generate commercial revenue. Its funding model consisted of EU grant disbursements supporting 15 three-year PhD scholarships at competitive gross salaries (living allowance of EUR 3,270/month plus mobility and family allowances). Distribution of outputs occurred through academic publications, open-access public deliverables, conference presentations, and the project website, with industrial partners retaining the ability to apply or commercialize research outcomes. The project concluded its program in 2024, with a final workshop held at Eurographics 2024 and a closing newsletter published in November 2024.

Name

CLIPE Project

Legal name

CLIPE (CREATING LIVELY INTERACTIVE POPULATED ENVIRONMENTS)

Website

https://clipe-itn.eu

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

CLIPE is an EU-funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (2020–2024) that trained 15 PhD researchers across 9 European universities and 5 industrial partners in virtual character simulation, VR/AR animation, and computer graphics research.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Research Training / Computer Graphics Research

NAICS

Educational Support Services (61171), Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming Services (7371)

akta.pro primary industry

Creator Tools & Content Pipelines for Immersive Learning (VR lesson builders, 3D asset workflows) (EDAFAJAL)

akta.pro secondary industries

AR/VR & Immersive Learning Content Development (EDAGAKAI), Multimedia Learning Production (Video, Animation, Interactive) (EDAGAKAG)

Keywords

• Virtual character simulation
• Computer animation research
• VR character development
• Digital human reconstruction
• Crowd simulation

Headquarters

HQ city

Nicosia

HQ country

Cyprus

HQ region

Europe

Offices8 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. EU Research Grant Funding: CLIPE is funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860768. As a research training network, it does not generate commercial revenue but receives EU funding to support PhD researcher positions and project activities.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CLIPE is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network that trains Early Stage Researchers (PhD candidates) in techniques for designing and controlling interactive virtual characters for VR/AR environments. The network combines 9 universities and research centers with 5 industrial partners across Europe to deliver multidisciplinary training in computer animation, deep learning for character behavior, procedural crowd simulation, perceptual studies, and human digitization. Its outputs include published algorithms (SparsePoser, ECON, DART, Motion Matching for VR, Crowd Authoring Tools), peer-reviewed publications, and trained PhD researchers placed with industrial partners.

Product overview

CLIPE (Creating Lively Interactive Populated Environments) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network under Horizon 2020, not a commercial product company. It is a four-year research and training program (2020-2024) focused on developing next-generation VR-ready virtual characters. The consortium comprises 9 universities/research centers (University of Cyprus, UPC, INRIA, UCL, Trinity College Dublin, Max Planck Institute, KTH, Ecole Polytechnique, Silversky3d) and 5 industrial partners (Treedy's, Amazon, BBC, Golaem, Ubisoft). Research outputs include algorithms (SparsePoser, ECON, DART, Motion Matching for VR, Crowd Authoring Tools), publications, and trained PhD researchers. The project also delivered training workshops and public deliverables.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• SparsePoser A deep learning-based solution that reconstructs full-body pose from a reduced set of six tracking devices using a convolutional-based autoencoder, designed for VR applications using consumer-grade hardware.
• ECON (Explicit Clothed humans Optimized via Normal integration) A method for high-fidelity 3D human reconstruction from images that handles loose clothing and challenging poses by combining implicit and explicit surface representations.
• DART (Diverse Accessories and Rich Textures) An extension of the MANO hand model that adds 50 daily 3D accessories and 325 texture maps along with a Unity GUI to generate 800K synthetic hand images with aligned 3D labels for training.
• Motion Matching with Orientation Prediction for VR An approach that combines motion matching with neural network-based body orientation prediction to animate avatars for consumer-grade VR devices that use a limited number of trackers.
• Crowd Authoring Tools A set of methods and tools for authoring virtual crowd behaviour, providing usability, control, interactivity, and style parameters for populated virtual environments.
• Deep Reinforcement Learning Survey for Character Animation A research survey reviewing modern deep reinforcement learning algorithms applied to character animation challenges, including skeletal motion control and group navigation.
• MSCA PhD Training Network An Innovative Training Network providing fully funded PhD positions and multidisciplinary training to 15 Early Stage Researchers in virtual character simulation, animation, VR/AR, computer graphics, psychology and perception across 9 universities and 5 industrial partners.

Quantifiable outcome

• Multiple PhD researchers trained and graduated with expertise in virtual character simulation
• +2 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability8 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Treedy's SPRLcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBelgium-based company with unique 3D scanning technology for the fashion industry. Provides expertise in body scanning and sizing solutions that can be applied to virtual character creation. Their technology is used with global brands such as Amazon, Zalando, and Nike.
• Amazon Development Center Germany GmbHcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPart of Amazon.com, a Fortune 500 company. The Tübingen research site offers an active internship program for international PhD students and academic postdoctoral programs in cooperation with universities. Provides industry perspective on VR/AR applications.
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBBC R&D involved in broadcast and media R&D including VR and AR. Prof. Graham Thomas leads the Immersive & Interactive Content Section with work in virtual studios, broadcast graphics, and VR. Provides expertise in media applications for virtual characters.
• GolaemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeveloper of artist-friendly crowd, layout, and previsualization tools. Used by hundreds of VFX and Animation studios globally including Game of Thrones, Marvel films. Awarded Technology and Engineering Emmy® (2019), Primetime Engineering Emmy® (2021), and Innovation Prize from French Academy (2020).
• UbisoftcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor creator of video games including Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and other AAA titles. Global teams create entertainment experiences. Generated net bookings of €2,241 million in 2020-21 fiscal year. Provides industry application context for virtual character research.
• University of CypruscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading university and research institution in Cyprus. Contact person: Prof. Yiorgos Chrysanthou. Department of Computer Science has strong research in computer graphics with faculty members, postdocs, and PhD students.
• Universitat Politècnica de CatalunyacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPublic institution in Spain specializing in engineering, architecture and science. ViRVIG research centre focuses on visualization, virtual reality and graphics interaction. Contact: Prof. Nuria Pelechano.
• INRIAcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFrench public research body dedicated to computational sciences. Rainbow team focuses on virtual character and crowd research. Contact: Dr. Julien Pettré.
• University College LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTop-20 world university. Virtual Environments and Computer Graphics (VECG) group is world-leading in interactive computer graphics. Contact: Prof. Anthony Steed.
• Trinity College DublincoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIreland's leading university. Graphics, Vision and Visualisation group (GV2) focuses on appearance, motion and behaviour evaluation of virtual characters. Contact: Prof. Carol O'Sullivan.
• Max Planck Institute for Intelligent SystemscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading research institution with Perceiving Systems department focusing on learning digital humans that can perceive, learn, and act in virtual 3D worlds. Contact: Prof. Michael Black.
• KTH Royal Institute of TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSweden's largest technical university responsible for one third of Sweden's capacity for technical research. Focus on communicative social behaviours for virtual characters. Contact: Dr. Christopher Peters.
• Ecole PolytechniquecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading French institute combining top-level research and academics. Visual Worlds group (VISTA) focuses on character animation. Contact: Prof. Marie-Paule Cani. Alumni include Nobel prize winners and CEOs.
• Silversky3d Virtual Reality Technologies Ltd.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCyprus-based SME spin-out from University of Cyprus (established 2004). Develops VR applications based on Cognitive/Clinical Psychology and Neuroscience including tools for cognitive training and social skills. Contact: Marios Avraamides.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Ubisoft: Ubisoft is a CLIPE industrial partner and a major AAA game publisher (Assassin's Creed, Far Cry) investing in advanced character animation, crowd simulation, and VR. Comparable as a large consumer-facing company whose games rely on the underlying virtual character simulation research CLIPE advances.
• Unity Technologies: Unity provides real-time 3D development platforms with character animation, motion capture, and AI-driven behavior tools used across games, film, and VR. It overlaps with CLIPE's VR character simulation focus as a broad incumbent with productized, commercially-funded alternatives to academic research outputs.
• Epic Games (MetaHuman): Epic Games operates Unreal Engine and MetaHuman, the leading commercial platform for creating photorealistic virtual characters and digital humans. It is a broad incumbent addressing the same problem space (high-fidelity real-time virtual characters) with significantly greater scale and integrated tooling.
• NVIDIA (Avatar Cloud Engine): NVIDIA provides AI-driven avatar and digital human technologies (ACE, Audio2Face, Omniverse Avatar) targeting the same real-time virtual character problem space as CLIPE, with substantially greater R&D resources and a fully commercialized product stack.
• Weta Digital / Weta FX: Weta FX is a major VFX studio that has historically driven commercial demand for advanced virtual character and crowd simulation technology (e.g., MASSIVE software). Comparable as a commercial consumer of virtual character research for film/entertainment production at industrial scale.

Direct peers

• Treedy's: Treedy's is a CLIPE industrial partner offering 3D body scanning technology for the fashion industry (used by Amazon, Zalando, Nike). Comparable as an applied commercial entity using 3D human digitization technology — a closely adjacent subdomain to CLIPE's character simulation research.
• Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Perceiving Systems): Max Planck's Perceiving Systems department, led by Michael Black, is a CLIPE consortium member and a world-leading research group on learning digital humans. Directly comparable as an academic research entity advancing the same 3D human digitization, pose estimation, and motion synthesis techniques.
• Golaem: Golaem is a CLIPE industrial partner and developer of artist-friendly crowd simulation and layout tools used in major VFX productions. It is directly comparable as a commercial entity translating virtual character/crowd research into shippable products for the same end markets (film, TV, games).
• INRIA (Rainbow team): INRIA's Rainbow team is a CLIPE consortium member and a leading European research group on virtual characters and crowd simulation. Directly comparable as an academic research entity working on the same virtual character animation problems, with overlapping publications and personnel.
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC R&D): BBC R&D is a CLIPE industrial partner with a dedicated Immersive & Interactive Content Section working on virtual studios, broadcast graphics, and VR. Directly comparable as a research-led organization advancing VR character and immersive content capabilities for media applications.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ClipeCurie
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC1r8U5z5wnwVR7fU0URf4rQ
• Facebookfacebook.com/CLIPEMarieCurie
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/clipe-marie-curie-project
• Instagraminstagram.com/clipeproject

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about CLIPE Project