Journalism and media accelerator programmes around the world

We’ve updated this lists of other journalism and media accelerators around the world

About a year after launching Jamlab we collated a list of similar initiatives focused on media innovation we could find through the internet.

At the time and as far as we knew, Jamlab was the first accelerator or incubator programme in Africa that focused on journalism and media. But over the year’s we’ve come to learn that there are a lot more initiatives that are alike which support innovation in media.

Two years since that initial list, we felt it was key that we update it. In this article we list existing accelerators, incubators and innovation labs focused on journalism and media that we’ve found to date.

In Africa

South African Media Innovation Fund

• Country : South Africa
• Description : The South Africa Media Innovation Fund (SAMIP) is run by Media Development Innovation Fund and supported by Omidyar Network and Open Society Foundations. It offers grants and investments in independent digital journalism and media ventures and mentorship and training to the enterprises they support.

The Innovation Centre

• Country: Kenya
• Description: The Innovation Center at the Aga Khan University supports the next generation of media entrepreneurs who are working on unique start-ups within the media industry and tinkering with exciting forms of storytelling. The organisation runs #InnovatorsInResidence programme for start-ups in East Africa.

Digital Lab Africa

• Country: All Africa
• Description: Digital Lab Africa supports media start ups with virtual mentorship from French and African digital content business leaders. It supports ventures in web creation/transmedia, virtual reality, video game, animation and digital music. Selected teams receive mentorship and project development support by French and local partners and time in France within digital companies.

The Americas

SembraMedia

• Country: Argentina/United States of America
• Description: SembraMedia supports and helps independent digital media to find and develop sustainable business models. It’s mission is to empower diverse Spanish-speaking voices in Latin America, the United States and Spain so that they can sustain their independence, journalistic quality and positive impact on citizens.

Nieman Lab

• Country: United States of America
• Description: The Nieman Foundation at Harvard supports journalists around the world to spend time considering their field. The Nieman Lab while not an incubator, provides research and commentary on innovation in news and journalism in the US and around the world.

Matter

• Country: United States of America (San Francisco and York)
• Description: Matter supports media entrepreneurs building a more informed, connected, and empowered society through their start-up accelerator in San Francisco and New York City. They look for early-stage media ventures that are changing media for good and that have the potential to make society more informed, connected, and empowered.

Digital News Innovation Challenge

• Country : Canada
• Description : A Canada-wide incubation program supporting leading digital news ideas and early-stage tech companies driving innovation for journalism and news organizations. Participants have access to $100,000 in seed capital on completion of milestones for their startup.Asia

Splice

• Country: Singapore
• Description: Splice is a self-funded media startup that celebrates other media startups in Asia through reporting on, teaching, advising, transforming and funding media startups. The organisation wants to be the center of the transformation of media in Asia.

Mediati

• Country : South Korea
• Description : Mediati help domestic media start-up growth and sustainability. They do this through two self-education programs: Medi-Ti J-Lab (J-Lab) and Mediatista Start-up Fellowship.

Europe

Next Media Accelerator

• Country: Germany
• Description : The Next Media Accelerator was initiated by the German Press Agency (dpa) in 2015 in Hamburg to offer media related startups a place to succeed. The program is looks for scalable companies that bring innovation to the media industry and are looking for international markets. They have built a strong international community, with several partners on board in the USA, Europe and Israel. Their goal is to become the largest hub for media innovation in Europe.

Stibo Accelerator

• Country : Denmark
• Description : The Stibo Accelerator applies the unique strength of the Stibo network to bringing research and entrepreneurship closer to the industries they operate in. The initiative supports research and accelerates innovation by providing 12–20 teams of students and startups every year with the best possible setup for exploring new trends and technologies in close relationship with the industry partners. Most of the teams on the Stibo Accelerator are Master students from various IT, business or journalism schools. There is a good reason for that: Students working on their Master Thesis, have a 100% commitment to this project and they are driven by a desire to research, build, test and iterate. From previous experiences, these students find huge value in working on their projects in close collaboration with Stibo and partners. Startups are welcome too — the only condition is that Stibo can help them grow in a sustainable way.

Media Lab Bayern

• Country: Germany (Munich)
• Description: Media Lab Bayern is a co-working space and ideas incubator for digital journalism in Munich, Germany. They look for creative thought leaders who not only want to invent their own media projects, but also to implement them. These leaders should be able to design ideas, find team members, develop prototypes for digital media apps and tools together.

See the previous list here.

If you know of any other journalism and media accelerator programmes that we have not listed here, please comment or write to us at info@jamlab.africa and we will update the article.