open call
Are you a startup or an artist from the media field, working with data?
Are you willing to make data exploration both entertaining and informative?
Do you question the impact of data and technology on individuals and society?

You have come to the right place!

WHAT we are looking for

The MediaFutures support programme is looking for artists and startups eager to reshape the media value chain through innovative, inclusive and participatory applications of data and user-generated content.

The Challenge

The second Open Call addresses the challenge of misinformation and disinformation.

MediaFutures seeks to support novel, unconventional ways for people to engage with journalism, science, and democracy, using approaches and tools from the arts, technology, and innovation. This years’ challenge invites innovative, creative and impactful ideas which address the issues of online misinformation and disinformation in different domains.

These ideas should help counteract the negative effects of misinformation and disinformation across society and help build trust in scientific and democratic institutions. That could mean developing software or hardware to address specific issues; artworks to highlight various aspects of them; or combinations of both. We are particularly keen to receive applications that offer new approaches to include minorities or especially affected countries.

Applications must include details on how these outcomes will be achieved during the six-months MediaFutures support programme, and what impact these will have on the issue they address.

To demonstrate the viability of your project, you should have a clear outline for the data you will require, including feasible strategies to access this data both technically and legally.

Download the complete description of the challenge:

Call opening:

November 25, 2021
12pm noon (CET)

Call closing:

January 27, 2022
12pm noon (CET)

Application kit

Interested in applying?

Download the Application KIT where you will find all the relevant documents for your application (Guidelines for Applicants, Frequently asked questions (FAQ), Proposal Templates for each of the tracks, Challenge, Sub-grantee agreement template)

Data, tools and training resources

Faq

Find the answers
to frequently asked questions

What we offer

Apply to get the chance to receive:

Z
up to €80,000 equity free funding for startups
Z

up to €40,000 for artists

Z
Technical, legal and advisory support
Z
Data and computational resources
Z
Mentorship and training
Z
Networking and peer learning
Z
Marketing and promotion through EU events and communities
There are three tracks to apply to join:

Track 1

Startups for Citizens

Does your startup have the solution to tackle misinformation? This one’s for you!

Standalone startups/SMEs building a product or service that helps individuals and organisations alike to engage with data and online information in meaningful ways. Applicants in this track will be funded with up to €65,000.

Track 2

Startup meets Artist

Do you like to be inspired by others, working closely with media entrepreneurs or artists, to challenge and grow ideas? This one's for you!
Teams consisting of a startup and an individual artist or artistic company, collaboratively developing a new concept of data technology and the arts. Companies will build a product in collaboration with artists in residency. Submissions should aim to lead to new experiences to make data exploration both entertaining and informative, building upon products, services, and tech used or developed by the startup. Funded with up to €80,000 per startup and €40,000 per artist.

Track 3

Artists for Media

Do you use data as an art material to engage, educate and inspire new ideas? This one’s for you!
Standalone artists, creatives, or collectives proposing an innovative artwork concept and production process. Submissions should propose new ideas and experiences in visual and performance arts that critically and materially explore data and technology to question and comment on its impact on individuals and society. The focus will be on data relevant to the media value chain, including social media. Artists are funded with up to €30,000.
Who can apply?
Startups and
artistic companies

A SME will be considered as such if it matches with the Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC and the SME user guide. As a summary, the criteria which define an SME are: I) Headcount in Annual Work Unit (AWU) less than 250 and II) Annual turnover less or equal to €50 million or annual balance sheet total, less or equal to €43 million.

GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS
When there is not a constituted SME, the applicants could be a group between 2 to 4 individuals legally established in an eligible country (according to section 5.2 of the Guidelines for Applicants) and with a written commitment to have set up a legally registered SME if reaching the “BUILD” phase.

ARTISTS

A physical person, a collective of individuals or a company whose main activity, as professionals or students, is of artistic nature. The artist must have produced enough artworks for the jury to evaluate their artistic experience. For the SmA track, a combination of an artist and a startup is mandatory. A matchmaking process between artists and startups will be organized by the MediaFutures team to help form partnerships, in case applicants do not have an established one.
Detailed eligibility criteria can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants
How to apply?

You must apply online, in English with a short proposal presenting the idea and the budget required.
You must provide administrative information and review, accept and comply with the conditions defined in the Guidelines for Applicants and the Declaration of Honour.

STEP 1

Download the Application KIT in which you find all relevant documents

STEP 2

Read the all the documents in the Application KIT, with special attention to the Guidelines for Applicants

STEP 3

Choose the track you intend to apply to and go the respective submission platform:

STEP 4

Start your application

STEP 5

Make sure to answer all questions and upload all relevant documents:
(1– Short proposal; if you are applying to Artists for Media or Startup meets Artist tracks, also: 2– Amateur video; 3– Additional artistic material)

STEP 6

Submit before the deadline

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If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

When to apply?

Call opening: November 25, 2021
Call closing: January 27, 2022
12pm noon (CET)

When will the results be published?

March 2022

When will the residency/accelerator start

April 2022

What are the
selection criteria?

INNOVATION

overall idea and objectives, solution to the Open Call challenge, project outcomes

IMPACT

economic or artistic impact, social impact

BUSINESS (for startups)

value proposition, business model and commercilization plan

IMPLEMENTATION AND ARTISTIC QUALITY
(for artists)

artistic proposal, implementation plan, use of data

TEAM

knowledge and skills, previous work and experience in the media and data field, diversity

Detailed evaluation criteria for each of the tracks can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants

HOW LONG
WILL MEDIAFUTURES PROGRAMME TAKE ME?

MediaFutures is a short and demanding programme. Selected candidates will need to dedicate a considerable amount of their time to the programme. The programme is designed as a mix of training sessions, mentoring and monitoring meetings in addition to the individual work for the realisation of the project idea.
START Phase (1 month)
  • Around 10 hours of mandatory training
  • 4 hours of collective and individual meeting
  • Pitch rehearsal and presentation (for SmA and SfC)
BUILD phase (5 month)
  • Around 7 hours of mandatory training
  • Around 14 optional training sessions
  • 10 hours of individual and collective meeting
  • Optional mentoring sessions
  • 6 hours interviews and reporting
  • 3 days meeting in Hamburg (Germany) – May 16 to May 18 during the Online Marketing Rockstars. (if public health conditions allow it)
EXHIBIT phase
  • Demo Day rehearsal and presentation

You can find the full preliminary programme calendar here and the important “save the dates” in this document.

open call
Are you a startup or an artist from the media field, working with data?
Are you willing to make data exploration both entertaining and informative?
Do you question the impact of data and technology on individuals and society?

You have come to the right place!

WHAT we are looking for

The MediaFutures support programme is looking for artists and startups eager to reshape the media value chain through innovative, inclusive and participatory applications of data and user-generated content.

The Challenge

The second Open Call addresses the challenge of misinformation and disinformation.
MediaFutures seeks to support novel, unconventional ways for people to engage with journalism, science, and democracy, using approaches and tools from the arts, technology, and innovation. This years’ challenge invites innovative, creative and impactful ideas which address the issues of online misinformation and disinformation in different domains.

These ideas should help counteract the negative effects of misinformation and disinformation across society and help build trust in scientific and democratic institutions. That could mean developing software or hardware to address specific issues; artworks to highlight various aspects of them; or combinations of both. We are particularly keen to receive applications that offer new approaches to include minorities or especially affected countries.

Applications must include details on how these outcomes will be achieved during the six-months MediaFutures support programme, and what impact these will have on the issue they address.

To demonstrate the viability of your project, you should have a clear outline for the data you will require, including feasible strategies to access this data both technically and legally.

Download the complete description of the challenge

Call opening:

November 25, 2021
12pm noon (CET)

Call closing:

January 27, 2022
12pm noon (CET)

Application kit

Interested in applying?
Download the Application KIT where you will find all the relevant documents for your application (Guidelines for Applicants, Frequently asked questions (FAQ), Proposal Templates for each of the tracks, Challenge, Sub-grantee agreement template)

Data, tools and training resources

Faq

Find the answers
to frequently asked questions

What we offer

Apply to get the chance to receive:

Z
up to €80,000 equity free funding for startups
Z

up to €40,000 for artists

Z
Technical, legal and advisory support
Z
Data and computational resources
Z
Mentorship and training
Z
Networking and peer learning
Z
Marketing and promotion through EU events and communities
There are three tracks to apply to join:

Track 1

Startups for Citizens

Does your startup have the solution to tackle misinformation? This one’s for you!
Standalone startups/SMEs building a product or service that helps individuals and organisations alike to engage with data and online information in meaningful ways. Applicants in this track will be funded with up to €65,000.

Track 2

Startup meets Artist

Do you like to be inspired by others, working closely with media entrepreneurs or artists, to challenge and grow ideas? This one's for you!
Teams consisting of a startup and an individual artist or artistic company, collaboratively developing a new concept of data technology and the arts. Companies will build a product in collaboration with artists in residency. Submissions should aim to lead to new experiences to make data exploration both entertaining and informative, building upon products, services, and tech used or developed by the startup. Funded with up to €80,000 per startup and €40,000 per artist.

Track 1

Artists for Media

Do you use data as an art material to engage, educate and inspire new ideas? This one’s for you!
Standalone artists, creatives, or collectives proposing an innovative artwork concept and production process. Submissions should propose new ideas and experiences in visual and performance arts that critically and materially explore data and technology to question and comment on its impact on individuals and society. The focus will be on data relevant to the media value chain, including social media. Artists are funded with up to €30,000.
Who can apply?
Startups and
artistic companies
A SME will be considered as such if it matches with the Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC and the SME user guide. As a summary, the criteria which define an SME are: I) Headcount in Annual Work Unit (AWU) less than 250 and II) Annual turnover less or equal to €50 million or annual balance sheet total, less or equal to €43 million.
GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS
When there is not a constituted SME, the applicants could be a group between 2 to 4 individuals legally established in an eligible country (according to section 5.2 of the Guidelines for Applicants) and with a written commitment to have set up a legally registered SME if reaching the “BUILD” phase.
ARTISTS
A physical person, a collective of individuals or a company whose main activity, as professionals or students, is of artistic nature. The artist must have produced enough artworks for the jury to evaluate their artistic experience. For the SmA track, a combination of an artist and a startup is mandatory. A matchmaking process between artists and startups will be organized by the MediaFutures team to help form partnerships, in case applicants do not have an established one.
Detailed eligibility criteria can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants
How to apply?

You must apply online, in English with a short proposal presenting the idea and the budget required.
You must provide administrative information and review, accept and comply with the conditions defined in the Guidelines for Applicants and the Declaration of Honour.

STEP 1

Download the Application KIT in which you find all relevant documents

STEP 2

Read the all the documents in the Application KIT, with special attention to the Guidelines for Applicants

STEP 3

Choose the track you intend to apply to and go the respective submission platform:

STEP 4

Start your application

STEP 5

Make sure to answer all questions and upload all relevant documents:
(1– Short proposal; if you are applying to Artists for Media or Startup meets Artist tracks, also: 2– Amateur video; 3– Additional artistic material)

STEP 6

Submit before the deadline

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

When to apply?

Call opening: November 25, 2021
Call closing: January 27, 2022
12pm noon (CET)

When will the results be published?

March 2022

When will the residency/accelerator start

April 2022

What are the
selection criteria?

INNOVATION

overall idea and objectives, solution to the Open Call challenge, project outcomes

IMPACT

economic or artistic impact, social impact

BUSINESS (for startups)

value proposition, business model and commercialization plan

IMPLEMENTATION AND ARTISTIC QUALITY
(for artists)

artistic proposal, implementation plan, use of data

TEAM

knowledge and skills, previous work and experience in the media and data field, diversity

Detailed evaluation criteria for each of the tracks can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants

HOW LONG
WILL MEDIAFUTURES PROGRAMME TAKE ME?
START Phase (1 month)
  • Around 10 hours of mandatory training
  • 4 hours of collective and individual meeting
  • Pitch rehearsal and presentation (for SmA and SfC)
BUILD phase (5 month)
  • Around 7 hours of mandatory training
  • Around 14 optional training sessions
  • 10 hours of individual and collective meeting
  • Optional mentoring sessions
  • 6 hours interviews and reporting
  • 3 days meeting in Hamburg (Germany) – May 16 to May 18 during the Online Marketing Rockstars. (if public health conditions allow it)
EXHIBIT phase
  • Demo Day rehearsal and presentation

You can find the full preliminary programme calendar here and the important “save the dates” in this document.

save the date

MediaFutures 2nd Open Call Webinars

Are you thinking about applying for MediaFutures?
We invite you to hear more about the application process and what you can expect from the Acceleration and Residency programmes.

December 16th, 2021

at 12.00 CET

January 12th, 2022

at 12:00 CET

Partner search for
Startup meets Artist track

Are you looking for a partner to team up with for the Startup meets Artist track?
We offer a platform that will help you to find your perfect partner.

All you have to do is to create a profile, add your description, take a look at the other participants, talk to the most interesting ones via the chat box and then book a timeslot with them for the matchmaking days that will take place on December 16th, 2021 and January 12th, 2022 at 1:00 pm (CET), just after the closure of the corresponding webinars.

The better your description is, the more speed-meetings you have, the more chances you have to find your perfect partner. Don´t miss this great opportunity!

What are you waiting for? Don’t waste time and create your profile at Deal Room Events.

Any questions?

All the information you need about the Open Call, evaluation process and residency process are in the guidelines for applicants and the FAQs which are part of the Application KIT.

If you need any further assistance please contact us at:
opencall@mediafutures.eu
or get in touch with us through our social media

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Find the answers
to frequently asked questions

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    MediaFutures is part of the S+T+ARTS ecosystem.

    MediaFutures is part of the S+T+ARTS ecosystem.