The Transition Accelerator supports digital innovation in established digital and legacy outlets by providing financial support, networks, and coaching.
The Transition Accelerator is a six-month program for small- to mid-sized digital or legacy media outlets that plan to leverage innovation in their business to become more resilient in the face of increasing challenges. For example, a newsroom could pivot to the membership through deeper audience engagement or want to invest in new content and distribution products by identifying user needs. Your team will leverage design-thinking innovation consulting to identify market needs, discover new opportunities and build solutions to enable digital transformation.
Activities and project support
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An introductory online meeting
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Two-day in-person Bootcamp
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Structured learning
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Prototype a new product
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1:1 coaching
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Guest speakers
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Grants of up to €20,000 to implement the project
Eligibility
Applicants must be based in one of the following countries: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Ukraine.
Newsrooms are welcome to apply if they have:
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a clearly identified challenge or problem they want to solve;
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a plan on how to address the problem or challenge they face;
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recently conducted audience research or other market testing activities;
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willingness and a plan to reach out to new audiences with quality content.
To apply, you must have a team of three staff members who declare that will participate through the accelerator’s duration of six months.
Benefits
The Transition Accelerator funds may cover any percentage of a project’s costs, up to 100 percent of the total. Co-funding is encouraged but not mandatory. Teams must declare any existing sources of funding on their application.
Applicants to the Transition Accelerator can request grants between €5,000 and €20,000.
Selected projects will sign a grant agreement with IPI to receive the funds. The disbursement of funds will be made in two installments:
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50 percent of the grant amount upon signing of the grant agreement.
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50 percent upon acceptance of a mid-term narrative report and completion of agreed milestones (due by the end of month four in the grant timetable).
The Transition Accelerator grant may be used to cover nearly any costs necessary for the production of their proposed project. This includes, but is not limited to, programmatic and operational costs (e.g., travel costs to the annual Media Innovation Summit), salary and human resource costs for the participating team, research and data collection costs, and equipment essential to the successful implementation of the project.
Application process
| Theme | : Business |
| Applicant Country | : WorldWide |
| For more information | : Media Innovation Europe |
