Katoenhuis IX Lab (KIXL)
Responsible immersive innovation for an inclusive future
The Katoenhuis IX Lab brings high-end immersive facilities and a public audience together in one building. An application can be validated technically and then tested with the people it is meant for, in the same week.
The IX Lab is an initiative of Katoenhuis and SenseGlove, together with 360Fabriek and the regional network SHINE. Katoenhuis IX Lab is one of five regional labs forming a new national IX infrastructure as part of CIIIC — the Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition.
What the lab is for
The Netherlands is in the middle of far-reaching transitions: care that has to keep working with fewer hands, a port becoming the smartest and cleanest rather than only the largest, a built environment to be made sustainable and climate-adaptive. These turn on human behaviour, professional practice and public consent as much as on technology.
Immersive Experiences make a transition of that kind visible and experienceable, and so workable — and they only scale when the people they are meant to serve trust them. That makes advancing public values and advancing the transitions one task rather than two.
Located inside Katoenhuis, the lab supports the full innovation chain for immersive experiences: from experimentation and prototyping to validation, demonstration and scaling, involving real audiences. It concentrates that work in three domains where national urgency and regional strength coincide — Life Sciences & Health, Maritime & Industry and the Digital Built Environment — each connected to an agenda already in motion: the national Knowledge and Innovation Covenant on care, the Havenvisie Rotterdam 2050 and the Rotterdam Citiverse Vision 2030.
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Built on what the region has already made
The Municipality of Rotterdam, the Province of South Holland and the Port of Rotterdam Authority have invested for years in the region's transition agenda and its digitalisation. SHINE, the South Holland Immersive Network & Ecosystem, grew out of that, and within SHINE the Katoenhuis holds a central place. As the region's official IX Lab, KIXL is the next step in that line.
It sits in M4H — the Merwe-Vierhavens area, with RDM the Rotterdam Makers District — the crossroads of port, city and knowledge axis. An area that stands for innovation and ties the region together, where an IX developer runs into a maritime engineer without scheduling it.
From here the lab connects into the national infrastructure, working with its partners and the four other IX Labs: the region to the world, and the world to the Netherlands.
Three domains, connected through art and culture
Katoenhuis IX Lab focuses on three domains in which immersive technologies can contribute to major societal and economic transitions. Art and culture connect these domains. As a place where experimentation, imagination and public engagement come together, Katoenhuis creates opportunities for artists, designers and cultural organisations to work alongside researchers, technology developers and industry.
Life Sciences & Health
Exploring immersive technologies for healthcare, training, research and new ways of understanding and interacting with the human body.
Maritime & Industry
Developing applications for training, simulation, remote collaboration, robotics and increasingly complex industrial environments.
Built Environment
Using technologies such as digital twins, 3D visualisation and immersive environments to explore how we design, understand and interact with our built surroundings.
Inside the lab: facilities and technology
Workplaces/ test spaces
Book a flexible desk or meeting room to work, connect, train, and co-create with researchers, makers, artists and industry partners from the IX community. A place to exchange ideas, build new collaborations, and turn immersive technology concepts into action.
Event spaces
Host your event in the spacious and distinctive former industrial halls of Katoenhuis. Book these flexible spaces for conferences, exhibitions, performances, workshops, showcases, community gatherings and other events that bring people, creativity and innovation together.
Spatial Audio-space – coming soon
A space for creating, testing, and experiencing three-dimensional sound. Sound sources can be positioned and moved around the user, making the space suitable for immersive audio, performances, simulations, training, and research.
Haptics and robotics – coming soon
An experimental space for physical interaction with digital environments and robotics. Users can work with technologies such as haptic feedback for XR training and teleoperation, enabling remote control of robotics and the collection of interaction data for AI and imitation learning.
Visualisation-space (360 projections, 3D, 360°-scans) – coming soon
A space for capturing, creating, and collectively experiencing digital representations of objects and environments. Using technologies such as 360° scanning, photogrammetry, 3D models, and large-scale projection, users can develop applications including digital twins, simulations, design validation, training, and immersive presentations.
Demo space – coming soon
Discover and experience immersive technologies and applications in action. Book the space to showcase IX solutions, give demonstrations, test prototypes, or introduce visitors and partners to the possibilities of immersive technology. An inspiring space for showcases, knowledge sharing, and connection.
Who it is for
Companies with a prototype that needs to meet a professional user. Researchers who need infrastructure no single institution can justify buying. Educators whose students should be building in a real facility. Public bodies with a question their residents need to be able to see. Artists and designers, who are how an application becomes understandable outside its own field. And the makers who have worked in this building for five years.
One of the five official IX Labs
The Katoenhuis IX Lab (KIXL) is one of the five official labs of IX Labs NL, the national infrastructure for immersive technology. BRIX in Brabant, IX3 in Amsterdam, MIX Lab in Hilversum, PRIME in Zeist and KIXL in Rotterdam each bring their own facilities and expertise, and operate as one network: users go to the lab that fits their question and are referred on where another is better placed. Katoenhuis contributes the link between validation and public presentation, and its three regional domains.
The network is made possible by CIIIC (Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition), a National Growth Fund programme, carried out by TNO on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
Meet the community and partners
Initiators and operator
Katoenhuis and SenseGlove, with 360Fabriek and the regional network SHINE. Operated by Concrete Culture. Katoenhuis IX Lab is one of five regional labs forming a new national IX infrastructure as part of CIIIC — the Creative Industries Immersive Impact Coalition.
Network founders and labpartners
SHINE · Gemeente Rotterdam · Provincie Zuid-Holland · Erasmus MC · Erasmus Centre for Data Analytics · Erasmus University Rotterdam · International Film Festival Rotterdam · Grafisch Lyceum Rotterdam · Het Nieuwe Instituut · Hogeschool Rotterdam · Society for Arts and Technology · Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag · SenseGlove · Hogeschool Inholland · RAUW cc · V2_ · VRDays Europe · Zadkine
Maritime & industry
Port of Rotterdam · AI Port Center · Veiligheidsregio Rotterdam-Rijnmond · M4H Rotterdam · VDL · VSTEP · Droneport Rotterdam
Life sciences & health
Erasmus MC · Medical Delta · Amsterdam Skills Centre · Enatom · VRelax · Rotterdam Square · DUTCH
Digital built environment
Global Cultural Districts Network · Placemaking Europe · Keile District · VORM · Bakkers Hommen · Future Society Lab · Open Urban Platform Rotterdam · NEPROM · OPENRED · UrbanEngine · GROUP A
National and international
SAT Montréal · Design Academy Eindhoven · HUB MTL · Kunstkraftwerk Leipzig · Broadwick · Trans Realities Lab · Rotterdam Partners · Koelhuis District Eindhoven
Business strategy and investment
LUMO Labs · Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship
Art and culture
Emergence Festival · N8W8 R'dam · Tabakalera · Lucy · Zalán Szakács · SKAR · Conflux Festival · IFFR
Technology
Epson · Barco · Behaviour Interactive · Epic Games · Dreamscape