Paola Rosà 2 September 2021

Created in partnership between the Google News Initiative (GNI), German media innovation hub Media Lab Bayern, and the European Journalism Centre (EJC), the GNI Startups Lab Europe supports high-quality reporting for local communities, single-topic audiences and/or previously underserved communities. Deadline 20 September

GNI, Media Lab and the EJC have built a six-month programme specifically tailored to the needs of content startups in Europe. You will benefit from Media Lab’s experience in supporting media startups and from EJC’s extensive European network and active community: there will be workshops, coaching and high-profile networking opportunities. Additionally, as a participant you will get access to up to € 25,000 in grants for running revenue-generating experiments, should you need it.

Applicants must focus on one or more of the following: public interest journalism, filling an information gap, serving a geographic-bound or single subject community, serving an underserved community, exploring new ways to deliver and/or monetize information.

The main focus is on helping entrepreneurs who want to serve communities that don’t often see themselves or their stories reflected in their local news.

After the initial pool, 20 applicants will be selected, to be invited to Trial Run, an audit workshop scheduled for the week 18-24 October, 2021. Trial Run will close with a Pitch Day and the final selection of 10 teams max. who will be part of the GNI Startups Lab for Europe.

Eligible countries where the startups are based are: Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom.

Here more info .