CIIIC is heading to SXSW London 2026

Immersive Futures: Human First

June 3, 2026 | Bike Shed, London

Immersive Experiences (IX) are rapidly becoming a core layer of the digital society. While AI accelerates the world by enabling the interpretation of complex data, IX introduces new ways of exchanging, learning and creating. In immersive environments, physical and digital space converge, enabling meaningful experiences that foster insight, empathy and human connection.

Program June 3

This information will be updated as more details become available. Please keep an eye on this page and our newsletter.

• 15:00 – 16:30
  Curated roundtable sessions (invite only)
• 17:00 – 18:00
  Beyond Profit: Creating Impact Through Immersive Experiences (SXSW programme*)
• From 18:00
  Networking drinks, co-hosted by CIIIC (registration opening soon)
• All day
  At SXSW, astrophysicist Yamila Miguel (Leiden University) and artist Thijs Biersteker (Woven) launch Mequation, a new immersive art installation that directly connects groundbreaking research on the universe with you. This installation can only be experienced here, in this immersive space, at this one moment in time.
  Mequation is presented by Woven Foundation and Leiden University, with support from CIIIC, SRON, the European Research Council (ERC), and NWO.

Beyond Profit: Creating Impact Through Immersive Experiences 

Moderated by Muki Kulhan (WIIT UK Ambassador)

What happens when we measure success not in revenue, but in the number of lives touched? And how do you translate complex scientific insights into experiences that people can truly feel? CIIIC closes the day with a session on impact-driven creativity, bringing together artists, scientists, and investors who are redefining the rules of value creation.

Keynote by Thijs Biersteker

In a keynote by Thijs Biersteker (Woven), we explore how scientific research can be translated into immersive narratives and experiences. While there is an abundance of valuable scientific data, there is often still a gap between complex research and meaningful public experience. How can data become immersive storytelling? Which methods can transform abstract information into tangible narratives and emotional experiences? And how can researchers and creators better understand each other’s practice and language? Drawing from Woven’s work, Thijs shares an approach to bridging this gap by translating real-time data into immersive experiences that make complex issues understandable, urgent and actionable.

Panel discussion

Following the keynote, Thijs is joined on stage by Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen and Robin Coops for a panel discussion. In the discussion, they share fresh perspectives and insights from the CIIIC Expert Roundtable Sessions. These sessions take place earlier in the afternoon, and bring together a curated group of international experts in IX.

Robin Coops explores a central question within immersive experiences: who is really steering the experience — the audience, the creator, or the system itself? Through participatory and AI-driven examples, where audiences influence narrative, sound and outcomes in real time, the conversation examines how immersive technologies make questions around control, authorship and power tangible and felt. What happens when systems begin to co-create, guide or anticipate behaviour? And how do we design experiences where control is not fixed, but continuously negotiated?

Dagmar van Ravenswaay Claasen reflects on what happens when we redefine value — from profit to impact. Her contribution explores models where value creation equals impact creation, and where success is measured not only in revenue, but in positive societal outcomes and contributions to the SDGs. Is it possible to build sustainable creative and technological practices around improving millions of lives, rather than maximising profit alone? And what does that shift mean for creators, companies and investors?

Practical info

June 3, 2026 - Bike Shed, London

Are you also attending SXSW? Contact us 

This program is part of the NL House at SXSW London, organized by New Dutch Wave in collaboration with the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and ROM Utrecht.

*Access is only possible with an official SXSW badge.