A new digital media incubator launched today in Philadelphia will help promote media innovation by providing startups with a launching pad and creating a culture of innovation in the region.

87 percent of new companies that benefit from completing an incubation program tend to stay in business according to the National Business Incubation Association. Insights from the Knight News Challenge and our work in media innovation also show that the most successful media innovation projects are nurtured.

The project experiments with a new model we hope will benefit digital media startups, traditional news organizations and Philadelphia, one of Knight Foundation’s resident communities and the fourth largest media market in the U.S. according to Nielsen.

The project is a strategic partnership between Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Drexel University, Dream It Ventures, the Philadelphia Foundation and the Philadelphia Media Network.

Over the last four years, Knight has invested more than $100 million in the future of news through our Media Innovation Initiative. We have been experimenting with funding and finding the best new ways to both deliver news in the digital age and to sustain it. We expect this project to help find new practices and models to do that and help inform and engage communities.

We can’t wait to see the impact of this project in Philadelphia and in further developing the field of media innovation.

Read the press release about Project Liberty.