STATUS: CLOSED

The Knight Prototype Fund helped media makers, technologists and tinkerers take ideas from concept to demo. With grants of $50,000, innovators were given nine months to research, test core assumptions and iterate before building out an entire project.

Prototype Fund open calls focused on relevant themes and were designed to respond to current needs and opportunities. The program recognized that with the cost of experimentation dropping, innovators should have the opportunity to test their greatest ideas and explore many options before choosing a final path. When successful projects emerge, Knight Foundation can help them scale.