FAQ – MEDIA LOVES TECH

FAQ

When does MEDIA LOVES TECH take place this year?

The MLT competition is organized by DW Akademie and takes place from June to August 2025. It takes place in several steps. 

What does MEDIA LOVES TECH look like?

The registration is open from April 1st to April 30th, 2025 on medialovestech.com.

  • Information sessions will be announced on time. You can follow us on our Facebook page “SMART MEDIA ACCELERATOR” for the exact dates of these sessions.
  • At the date of submission, the projects that are submitted must be at least in the design phase and, or at most, in the pre-marketing phase.

The 2 steps of the competition:

Stage 1: Application and qualification phase

Apply by 30 April 2025 using the SMART MEDIA ACCELERATOR 2025 application form. The best teams will receive notification that they have access to the SMAx e-learning platform.

Stage 2: incubation journey

From June to August 2025, teams have the opportunity to take online courses on the platform and provide the necessary deliverables. The journey is divided into three phases (“gates”): desirability, feasibility and viability. At the end of the journey, the deliverables are evaluated and the best project is rewarded.

The best project will receive TND 10,000 in funding, which will be awarded to the winning team at the closing ceremony on 5 September 2025.

Who is eligible?

The competition is open to all persons who are over 18 years old at the time of their registration (hereinafter “eligible participants”). Journalists, developers, designers, data scientists, creative minds, techies, individuals or representatives of organizations, are invited to submit their concepts or apply to become part of a team. 

The following are not eligible as participants: the directors of  DW Akademie, the members of the jury and the persons with whom they are domiciled, the mentors and the persons with whom they are domiciled. 

At what stage must my projects be in order to participate?

MEDIA LOVES TECH is a pre-incubation and incubation competition: from the idea to the creation of a prototype solution. All projects that fall within this stage of the entrepreneurial project are accepted. The projects must also be in the pre-marketing phase, which means that they have not recorded any sales or have no registered customers. 

How to participate?

To participate between April 1st, 2025 and April 30th, 2025, eligible persons must:

  • Join medialovestech.com
  • Fill in the SMART MEDIA ACCELERATOR 2024 application form
  • Form a team of at least 2 participants
  • Propose a project that will work, in part or fully, in one or more of the targeted countries (Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria).
  • Develop a concept (pitch deck) related to one of the proposed themes. The team can carry out a first level of design, mock-up or prototyping

What is there to gain?

MEDIA LOVES TECH gives you access to a quality ecosystem:

  • flexibility with different knowledge inputs such as online trainings and masterclasses
  • experts on demand
  • networking opportunities, even after the end of the program
  • a community of entrepreneurs and experts

The winner receives an award of TND 10,000.

Who can participate?

The competition is open to creative people, journalists, media professionals, entrepreneurs, designers, developers, civil society and any individual or organisation wishing to contribute, through a concept or by offering their skills, to the growth of journalism in Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria thanks to digital technology. See also the rules.

I’ve got a great concept:

You are invited to submit your concept. If you already have a team, please indicate this when you register, otherwise please indicate the skills you would need to bring your project to fruition. Among the other registered participants, those with the required skills will be assigned to your concept within the limits of available capacity.

I don’t like working in a team, I’d rather take part on my own:

MEDIA LOVES TECH is based on the spirit of collaboration and teamwork. And that’s what we want to reinforce through this initiative. Participating teams must therefore be made up of min. 2 people.

I’ve already taken part, but I want to try my luck again:

The entrepreneurial spirit means knowing how to challenge yourself and start again. If you’ve already taken part in a previous competition, you have every right to try again. With the same project (improved!) or with a different idea.

How is the selection made? What are the criteria?

Steps to follow:

Stage 1: Application and qualification phase

Apply by 30 April 2025 using the SMART MEDIA ACCELERATOR 2025 application form. The best teams will receive notification that they have access to the SMAx e-learning platform.

Stage 2: incubation journey

From June to August 2025, teams have the opportunity to take online courses on the platform and provide the necessary deliverables. The journey is divided into three phases (“gates”): desirability, feasibility and viability. At the end of the journey, the deliverables are evaluated and the best project is rewarded.

Evaluation criteria we use:

What is the problem you are solving, is the project tackling a specific problem that needs solving?

  • Innovation: What is the level of innovation of the concept in solving the problem?
  • Market-fit: Why is the concept interesting and relevant, have you identified a target audience that would like to use your product? How does it work? What features are at the heart of your product? What roadmap is there for the implementation?
  • User experience: Is the interface user-friendly and easy to use (depending on the target audience of the product)?
  • Functionality: Are the prototype and level of technological innovation operating and functional?
  • Implementation: What is the plan for the implementation and promotion of the product in the future (roadmap)?
  • Business model: Which business model secures the sustainability of the project?
  • Project team: Is the team able to test and implement the innovation as suggested? What is the level of collaboration within the team, their capacity and what is their motivation to ensure the sustainability of the project (during open-innovation challenges that may come along. Developing a concept is not only a question of creating new ideas, and in fact collaboration and co -creation are also crucial)
  • Feasibility: Is the proposed concept feasible and can be implemented in the available time considering the available resources?

What documents are to be submitted?

First of all, we would like to know the problem you wish to solve and the solution you propose. To do this, simply :

Who owns the product and its intellectual property?

All of the work done by the teams belongs to the teams. No company, organization or entity apart from the registered members of the team can claim any prerogative on the intellectual property developed in MEDIA LOVES TECH. All previous intellectual property that MEDIA LOVES TECH participants bring with them or which might be a product of or linked to their employment status must be declared to the other team members and to the organizers of MEDIA LOVES TECH.