An app which uses geo-location technology to deliver relevant local news to subscribers' mobile phones is one of 10 ideas which have received Lottery funding to develop their services.
Each will receive £50,000 from Nesta, a Lottery-funded body whose brief is to back projects which offer innovative new products or services.
Other successful applications, which were whittled down from 165 received, include a local guide featuring augmented reality content, and a local loyalty card scheme which gives users of civic facilities discounts at local shops and businesses.
Winners come from across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Nesta programme director Jon Kingsbury said: “The strength and diversity of the projects chosen shows how exciting the hyper-local media sector is. There is a real desire for these organisations not only to be innovative but sustainable so that we lay the foundations for a hyper-local media sector that is here to stay”.
The next step of the programme, says Nesta, is to build and test prototypes of the successful projects “that will deliver the next generation of very local, mobile services such as news, public services and citizen journalism
