Introducing the Project Liberty Digital Incubator from Project Liberty Incubator on Vimeo

Two years ago, I was excited to sit down and interview the first round of applicants for the Project Liberty New Media Incubator, an effort to bring innovation to the heart of traditional newsrooms and create a community of startups in Philadelphia. I once led Rock the Vote, and the company that intrigued me most during those conversations was ElectNext, the eHarmony for would-be voters. I recall firing questions at Keya Dennanbaum, ElectNext’s founder and CEO. She holds a Ph.D. from Princeton and is a graduate of programs at DreamIt Ventures and Good Company.  Keya made it into the first class of the incubator, and I thought: We’ve attracted this talented young woman to Philadelphia; what do we have to do to keep her and ElectNext—and others like them—here?

That goal is central to Knight’s work in Philadelphia, and it’s why we’re increasing our funding for Project Liberty with $345,000 in new support. We want to attract, retain and maximize talent—talent that brings the knowledge, knowhow and skills to help Philadelphia reinvent herself for the 21^st century economy. Project Liberty is operated by Ben Franklin Technology Partners and is embedded in the offices of Interstate General Media, the corporate owners of the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. It has helped to attract and retain new talent here, in our city, while promoting sustainable digital media projects that better create, capture and distribute news and information.

When Knight made the initial grant in 2011, it was our hope that the new media startups would have an opportunity to grow and develop partnerships with the newspapers. We also hoped that the newspapers would embrace new technologies and ideas. The results of that partnership have been encouraging, and we want to expand on that success.

Project Liberty has become a viable platform for delivering new digital ideas and products. It is a learning ground for local college students and a magnet for attracting talent to Philadelphia. SnipSnap, a coupon app, has raised a little over $1.6 million, including investments from Knight and Ben Franklin Technology Partners. ElectNext, through its partnership with Philly.com, is able to provide an easy and interactive platform for everyday people seeking information about political candidates. And while we didn’t keep Keya here—ElectNext is now based in New York—her company still has an office and two team members in Philly.

There are even companies that interview for Project Liberty and do not make it into the class but still decide to make Philadelphia their home. One such company that comes to mind is Jon Gosier’s MetaLayer, a company building applications that make it easier for everyone to work with streams of data. That energy helps stimulate the entrepreneurial environment here in our city.

Over the next few years, we look forward to increasing the number of companies that take part in Project Liberty. It will strengthen Knight’s network of digital entrepreneurs, while making the most of emerging talent and attracting new people to our thriving startup community.

Donna Frisby-Greenwood, Philadelphia program director at Knight Foundation