QUALISYS AB

Their core work

Qualisys is a Swedish SME that develops and manufactures precision motion capture systems used in research, biomechanics, and human movement analysis. In H2020 projects, they contribute their motion capture hardware and expertise to interdisciplinary research on gesture, infant development, and temporal coordination in human movement. Their role bridges the gap between high-precision measurement technology and fundamental neuroscience and cognitive research. They are a technology provider enabling researchers to quantify and analyze complex human motion patterns.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Qualisys entered H2020 through a linguistics-adjacent project (DCOMM, 2016) focused on gesture and deictic communication, applying motion capture to language research. By 2018-2019, their involvement shifted toward neuroscience and temporal dynamics of movement, with projects like MOTION (infant cognition) and EnTimeMent (entrainment, synchronization, computational models). The trajectory shows a clear move from capturing individual gestures toward understanding complex, time-dependent coordination patterns in human behavior.

Qualisys is moving toward real-time, temporally-rich motion analysis for neuroscience applications — expect growing interest in wearable and mobile capture for cognitive and clinical research.

How they like to work

Qualisys participates exclusively as a partner, never as coordinator — consistent with their role as a specialist technology supplier embedded in research consortia. With 34 unique partners across 13 countries from just 3 projects, they work in large, internationally diverse training networks (MSCA-ITN format). This suggests they are comfortable contributing technology and expertise to ambitious multi-partner projects without needing to lead them.

Despite only 3 projects, Qualisys has built a broad network of 34 partners across 13 countries, reflecting the large consortium sizes typical of MSCA training networks. Their reach spans widely across Europe with no single geographic concentration.

What sets them apart

Qualisys occupies a distinctive niche as a commercial motion capture manufacturer participating directly in fundamental research consortia. Unlike academic partners who use motion capture, Qualisys builds it — giving them unique insight into what researchers need and how measurement technology should evolve. For consortium builders, they offer both industrial-grade hardware and deep familiarity with research workflows in neuroscience and human movement science.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EnTimeMent
  Largest funded project (EUR 232,500) combining motion capture with computational neuroscience to study entrainment and temporal synchronization in human movement.
• DCOMM
  Highest single EC contribution (EUR 263,659) and an unusual application of motion capture technology to linguistics and gesture-language interaction research.