INJECT — Innovation Journalism: Enhanced Creativity Tools — is a European research project funded under the Horizon 2020 programme. The project brings together academic researchers, technology developers and working journalists to create tools that support the creative process in newsrooms.
The core challenge INJECT addresses is simple but profound: in an era of information overload, journalists need better ways to explore a topic and find angles that aren't immediately obvious. Keyword search helps you find what you already know. INJECT helps you discover what you don't.
How INJECT works
The INJECT tool uses AI-based search algorithms to surface articles, individuals, images and concepts that are related to a journalist's story — but presented in unexpected ways. Rather than returning a ranked list of links, INJECT offers:
- Search Strategies — different lenses for exploring a topic
- Creative Sparks — questions and suggestions that trigger new angles
- Related Concepts — connected ideas explained through Explaain fact cards
- Visual Discovery — cartoons, infographics and images that reframe the story
Research foundation
The tool is grounded in 25+ years of research on creativity and innovation, led by the European Centre for Media Innovation at City, University of London. The creative prompts and search strategies within INJECT are codified from interviews with experienced journalists and editors across Europe.
INJECT has been tested with journalists at regional newspapers in Norway, the Netherlands and Germany, as well as through training workshops at international journalism conferences.
EU Horizon 2020
INJECT is part of the European Commission's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme — the largest EU research programme ever, with nearly €80 billion in funding available over 2014–2020. The project consortium brings together 14 international partners from 7 countries.