Innovation in Practice: A Visit to Media Lab Bayern

One of the absolute highlights of this whole course for me was our visit to Media Lab Bayern. It gave me a feeling more like stepping into a space where media, creativity, and tech were all just vibing together. The vibe was super chill but also buzzing with ideas. We got to see where people are actively working on the future of journalism, not just talking about it.

They introduced us to several startups and projects they’re helping grow, and every single one had something unique to offer. There was this project called SO DONE which I found really powerful, it’s basically a digital safety net for people who’ve been harassed online. Then there was Rediozeit, which lets radio stations add karaoke-style subtitles into their apps. I never thought of that before, but it’s actually such a cool way to make audio more accessible. Another one, Neuraforge, is all about spotting deepfakes made by AI, super important now that AI content is everywhere and hard to trust. What I also loved was seeing projects that bring people’s voices directly into journalism. One of them, BR24 Dein Argument, lets user comments become part of actual stories. It’s like saying, “Hey, your voice matters too.” There were also tools that translate local news into dialects or turn them into podcast scripts automatically. And then you’ve got BotCast, which uses AI to make newsroom work faster and smoother. Basically, everything there was about solving real problems in creative, forward-thinking ways.

But the best part? We didn’t just sit and listen but they made us get involved. We got into groups of five and did this design thinking simulation which honestly felt more like a startup hackathon than a class project. Our challenge was to come up with ideas to help public broadcasters connect better with younger audiences especially people under 30, like us. We started by figuring out what the actual problem is. It wasn’t just “young people don’t watch the news”however, it was deeper than that. Maybe the format feels boring, or it’s not where we are (like, who’s opening a TV app these days?). Maybe it doesn’t feel like it’s made for us or by us. We had to ask those questions first before we could fix any problems.

Then came this thing called Crazy8 method. Each of us had to come up with eight ideas really quickly. It sounds so wild and it was! but it actually worked. We filled pages with sketches and wild concepts, from TikTok newsrooms to collabs with influencers to interactive story games. Some ideas were super out-there, but others really made sense the more we talked. After that, we picked our favourite idea and made a simple prototype, just something rough to show how it would work. And then we pitched it to the rest of the class, like it was our own little media startup. We explained the issue we tackled, our thought process, and why we thought our idea could help fix it.

It was such a fun and inspiring day. Honestly, I wish more university classes worked like that less sitting and more doing. We got to think creatively, share random ideas without judgment, and actually build something. And it made me realise how many solutions are out there if you just let people brainstorm freely, especially when those people come from different places and backgrounds.

Media Lab Bayern gave me hope, not gonna lie. It showed me that media doesn’t have to be stuck in old ways, it can grow, shift, and be reimagined. And sometimes, that reimagining starts with students scribbling ideas on sticky notes and asking, “What if we tried this instead?”