When the DNI Fund started with the intention of stimulating news innovation in Europe, the team didn’t know what to expect, but knew it had to be tackled in the most open way possible. There was one goal: give anyone willing to think about tomorrow’s technology and business models for journalism the room to take risks and try new things. Thus was born the Innovation pillar of the DNI: a call to every innovator in the news ecosystem to think big (and small!) by submitting their application(s) to the DNI Fund. Looking back, with more than 5,100 projects received, 662 selected and more than €150 million offered it would appear those early intuitions were proven correct, namely:

(1) Good ideas can come from anyone, anywhere

(2) Having an open approach stimulates the entire ecosystem beyond the funding

(3) News publishers are creative and want to collaborate to solve common systemic issues

We hope this final DNI Fund Impact Report not only brings full transparency to what has been achieved but also gives a sense of the profusion of great initiatives created to figure out new paths for sustainability through innovative use of technology. In this report, we’ve shared only some of what has been happening – so we really encourage you to dig deeper and visit our website to discover all the projects!

Also, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you want to share any feedback and/or would like to be connected with another innovator in the news ecosystem: send a note to dnifund@google.com.

Ludovic Blecher and Madhav Chinnappa