As Managing Director of XR4Europe, Michael Barngrover leads a pan-European industry association to support and advance XR innovation in Europe. In addition to its matchmaking, research, and thought leadership activities, XR4Europe participates in several EU-funded projects: XR4HUMAN, OPENVERSE, and VR HEALTH CHAMPIONS, through which XR4Europe plays an active role engaging European stakeholders in the EU's strategic initiative for Virtual Worlds and Web 4.0.

The VR Health Champions project is a three-year initiative co-funded by the Interregional Innovation Investments (I3) instrument under the European Regional Development Fund. Its primary goal is to reduce market barriers for healthcare Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications in less developed European regions. By strengthening the value chains of five flagship SMEs—Lightspace, MEEVA, MedApp, Metaskills, and Virtuleap—the project aims to advance their Technology Readiness Levels from TRL 6 to TRL 9, facilitating market readiness. XR4Europe plays an important role in the project's cascade funding mechanism to support SMEs in the healthcare XR sector, providing financial resources to advance the development and market readiness of innovative VR and AR applications.