Entrepreneurial journalism

12.04.2016
IHECS creates its own crowdfunding platform

On 11 April IHECS (Institute for Higher Social Communication Studies) officially  launched the creation of the IHECS Fund, a crowdfunding platform for projects aimed at its journalism students. An avant-garde initiative in the educational field, as was underlined at the last International Meetings of Journalim and Information in Tours on  11 March 2016.

Without in any way neglecting the traditional media, for the last three years  IHECS has become involved in crowdfunding for projects and reports that focus on transmedia via the KissKissBankBank platform. Moreover, the latter is a partner of IHECS for other projects:  fictional films, transmedia documentaries, educational supports, etc.

Today, in the journalism field, IHECS already  has been able to collect over 100,000 Euros for 49 projects (out of a total of 76). 

259 students in total for all the projects that have been concerned by this experiment.

Today the Institute is taking another step by creating its own identity and a system adapted to its needs via http://fund.ihecs.be in collaboration with Lab. davanac and Koalect (a start-up that has just raised 350,000 Euros to optimise and publicise its crowdfunding application for the non-trade sector).

At the end of the campaign, the sums collected will be directly invested by the students in their projects. After validation by the jury, they will be put on line and made accessible to the public in accordance with crowdfunding principles. The best ones will be broadbase by mass media and partners of IHECS.

A real educational process upstream of this search for financing

  • General perspective: First of all, the students, supervised by their teachers, define the problem that they want to work on, explore the avenues for reflection and write an inventory of their journalistic subject that their final project submission will be based on.
  • Bootcamp: for three days and accompanied by Damien Van Achter they are immersed in digital and entrepreneurial culture. They refine their value proposal, outline their editorial strategy and plan the different stages for implementing their projects.
  • Specification: in the third stage, they write a media specification including a synopsis of their report, the financial resources needed, the key figures they are going to meet and the schedule of the different tasks that they have to carry out until presentation in front of a jury of professional journalists.
  • Presentation in front of a jury: at the end of this process that lasts 18 months, they present their work in front of a jury of professionals. The jury assesses the journalistic pertinence of their work, the originality of the subject, the students' investment as well as their ability to choose an editorial strategy that is adapted to their project.

Press contact: Amandine Bisqueret 0493/50 52 78 - amandine.bisqueret@galilee.be