We are thrilled to announce the second round of funding of the Digital News Initiative Innovation Fund, Google’s €150m commitment to spark new thinking and give European news organisations of all sizes the space to try some new things, experiment and innovate in the digital space. Today, project leaders are being notified of funding offers that total €24 million to 124 projects originating from 25 European countries.

In October 2015, we issued the first call for applications to the Digital News Initiative Innovation Fund. Since that time our team has had the opportunity to speak to thousands of ambitious European newsrooms, individuals, traditional publishing houses, startups and academics and to discover the stunning amount of research and development going on across the news sector here. With today’s funding announcement, the Digital News Initiative Innovation Fund has so far distributed €51M to these efforts, and we’re just getting started.

In this second round of funding, in addition to the main criteria of impact, innovation and project feasibility that were set out as parameters from the outset of the Fund, we looked for projects focused on collaboration. The projects that stood out prioritise collaborative approaches between publishers, academics, designers and entrepreneurs, both within a single country and across Europe.

While the list is long--happily so--a few projects are highlighted here as a sampling of this funding round:

Spiegel Online - Germany - in collaboration with Institut für Spielanalyse & TU München
What happens when you mix sports reporting and data science? With EUR 689,116 from the DNI, Spiegel’s collaborative project aims to create an entirely new way for readers and journalists to experience and analyze soccer games. With a goal of using new approaches in data collection, data interpretation and player analysis, Spiegel Online plans to help fans become experts--using novel applications of artificial intelligence.

Corriere della Sera: The Vocal Bot - Italy
With EUR 300,000 in funding, Corriere della Sera will pursue the design of a digital assistant where Corriere della Sera can answer users’ news-related questions on a variety of devices. The ambition is to be able to answer natural language queries such as “Please, tell me the latest on the Brexit” or “Who won today’s GP?.” The “Digital Assistant” will read headlines and articles, search Corriere della Sera’s archives, and scrape the publisher’s digital content for material.

Le Temps SA - Switzerland
The industry agrees that exceptional content increases loyalty and engagement. So with EUR 45,000 in funding, Le Temps is pursuing a tool to resurface and republish the newsroom’s best ‘evergreen’ articles when they relate to current events. Called “Zombie,” the tool will analyse articles on Le Temps’ website using data from both Chartbeat and Google Analytics and apply a score to each piece. At the same time Zombie will analyse web activity for trending topics--which can be matched to Le Temp’s database of content. If so, the tool will alert the newsroom.

The full list of projects offered funding to date can be found at digitalnewsinitiative.com/fund. The Fund is one arm of the Digital News Initiative, which today meets for its annual conference in Berlin. The two additional pillars of focus are Research & Training and Product Development that includes the Accelerated Mobile Pages project and the YouTube Player for Publishers.

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, gave a talk at our new campus in King’s Cross, London, where he spoke about the UK’s digital heritage, our investment in the country, and ensuring everyone is part of the digital economy:

Building a new London campus:

“It’s great to be in the UK, a place where innovators have changed people’s lives on a mass scale—from cracking the Enigma code, to inventing the world wide web. The UK is also home to institutions that improve the lives of people from every walk of life. Think about the BBC or the NHS—even the Premier League. The inclusiveness of these institutions may at times be taken for granted in the UK, but they greatly impress those of us looking in.

In the UK, it’s clear to me that computer science has a great future with the talent, educational institutions and passion for innovation. That’s why we’re investing in London in both engineering talent and infrastructure. 2,000 people—mostly engineers—moved into our current building in October, and we're excited to continue our investment in King’s Cross with a brand new building right across the street. We plan to start construction in 2018, and when complete we’ll have more than a million square feet of space across three offices in the King’s Cross campus—enough for more than 7,000 employees.”

Announcing 5 hours digital skills training for everyone:

“We understand there’s uncertainty around topics like Brexit and the pace of technological change in our times. But we know for certain that the web and digital technology will be an engine of growth for years to come. As in most countries, many people in the UK lack the digital skills to feel a part of this fast growing economy. They need to learn skills like building a web presence, driving online growth and reaching customers over mobile and video. And to provide that support, we’ve been investing in digital skills training programs across Britain, and already visited more than 80 towns and trained 250k people.

And I’m pleased to announce our pledge to provide five hours of digital skills training to every person and every small business in Britain. Starting in 2017, no matter where you're based, you'll be able to get free training from our online academy. And for those who prefer to do these things face to face, we'll bring our experts to more than 100 cities and towns so you can get the advice that matters to you.”

Announcing Expeditions for a million school children:

“Beyond reaching people currently in the workforce, we also see an opportunity to reach students earlier in the educational process—where technology can help acclimate the next generation to new tools and enrich the educational experience itself.

Take Expeditions, our collection of virtual reality content that can be used alongside existing curriculum to deepen learning. Think of these as virtual field trips, where no school bus alone could transport students. From the Great Barrier Reef to a firsthand encounter with dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. It’s an amazing experience that electrifies the learning process. We’re also bringing Expeditions at no charge to a million British children by the end of 2017. We hope this not only brings science and the natural world to life, but inspires children to think about an emerging field like Virtual Reality.”

The UK is a tech leader:

Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai, gave a talk at our new campus in King’s Cross, London, where he spoke about the UK’s digital heritage, our investment in the country, and ensuring everyone is part of the digital economy:

Building a new London campus:

“It’s great to be in the UK, a place where innovators have changed people’s lives on a mass scale—from cracking the Enigma code, to inventing the world wide web. The UK is also home to institutions that improve the lives of people from every walk of life. Think about the BBC or the NHS—even the Premier League. The inclusiveness of these institutions may at times be taken for granted in the UK, but they greatly impress those of us looking in.

In the UK, it’s clear to me that computer science has a great future with the talent, educational institutions and passion for innovation. That’s why we’re investing in London in both engineering talent and infrastructure. 2,000 people—mostly engineers—moved into our current building in October, and we're excited to continue our investment in King’s Cross with a brand new building right across the street. We plan to start construction in 2018, and when complete we’ll have more than a million square feet of space across three offices in the King’s Cross campus—enough for more than 7,000 employees.”

Announcing 5 hours digital skills training for everyone:

“We understand there’s uncertainty around topics like Brexit and the pace of technological change in our times. But we know for certain that the web and digital technology will be an engine of growth for years to come. As in most countries, many people in the UK lack the digital skills to feel a part of this fast growing economy. They need to learn skills like building a web presence, driving online growth and reaching customers over mobile and video. And to provide that support, we’ve been investing in digital skills training programs across Britain, and already visited more than 80 towns and trained 250k people.

And I’m pleased to announce our pledge to provide five hours of digital skills training to every person and every small business in Britain. Starting in 2017, no matter where you're based, you'll be able to get free training from our online academy. And for those who prefer to do these things face to face, we'll bring our experts to more than 100 cities and towns so you can get the advice that matters to you.”

Announcing Expeditions for a million school children:

“Beyond reaching people currently in the workforce, we also see an opportunity to reach students earlier in the educational process—where technology can help acclimate the next generation to new tools and enrich the educational experience itself.

Take Expeditions, our collection of virtual reality content that can be used alongside existing curriculum to deepen learning. Think of these as virtual field trips, where no school bus alone could transport students. From the Great Barrier Reef to a firsthand encounter with dinosaurs at the Natural History Museum. It’s an amazing experience that electrifies the learning process. We’re also bringing Expeditions at no charge to a million British children by the end of 2017. We hope this not only brings science and the natural world to life, but inspires children to think about an emerging field like Virtual Reality.”

The UK is a tech leader: