????《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》（The New York Times）或許并不是因?yàn)樗凭玫臍v史才被人們戲稱為“老女人”，但大多數(shù)人認(rèn)為媒體公司都是步履蹣跚，動(dòng)作遲鈍的企業(yè)。現(xiàn)在，旨在啟動(dòng)其在線品牌的《愛(ài)爾蘭時(shí)報(bào)》（The Irish Times ）和英國(guó)廣播公司（BBC）商業(yè)分支機(jī)構(gòu)BBC Worldwide公司把希望依托在了初創(chuàng)企業(yè)身上，希望借助它們的力量——這兩家公司都建立了內(nèi)部的創(chuàng)業(yè)孵化器，以駕馭年輕企業(yè)的顛覆性能量。

????《愛(ài)爾蘭時(shí)報(bào)》首席創(chuàng)新官約翰尼?瑞安說(shuō)，挑戰(zhàn)的目標(biāo)非常類似于一部好萊塢電影的情節(jié)：一位銳意進(jìn)取的年輕人與一位性情乖戾的年邁導(dǎo)師攜手攻克一道難題，并在整個(gè)過(guò)程中學(xué)到了一堂寶貴的人生課程。就這個(gè)例子而言，問(wèn)題是如何改善一家公司的在線業(yè)務(wù)收入，人生課程則是初創(chuàng)企業(yè)在與一家大公司合作時(shí)所獲得的經(jīng)驗(yàn)。

????瑞安是《愛(ài)爾蘭時(shí)報(bào)》數(shù)字挑戰(zhàn)計(jì)劃（Digital Challenge）的策劃者。按照計(jì)劃，5家初創(chuàng)公司（共有81家公司提出申請(qǐng)）需要在《愛(ài)爾蘭時(shí)報(bào)》公司內(nèi)部工作的8周時(shí)間內(nèi)，將它們的創(chuàng)意轉(zhuǎn)化為虛擬現(xiàn)實(shí)。雖然它們的創(chuàng)見(jiàn)各不相同，但最終目標(biāo)卻是相同的——贏得由DFJ Esprit風(fēng)投基金提供的5萬(wàn)英鎊（約合6.1萬(wàn)美元）投資。優(yōu)勝者必須向《愛(ài)爾蘭時(shí)報(bào)》證明，它的產(chǎn)品能夠帶來(lái)最大的潛在收入，同時(shí)改善讀者的閱讀體驗(yàn)。

????作為一個(gè)新成立的創(chuàng)業(yè)加速器，BBC Worldwide實(shí)驗(yàn)室則采用了一種類似但又有其鮮明特色的策略。羽翼未豐的公司之間并不存在競(jìng)爭(zhēng)關(guān)系，也沒(méi)有獎(jiǎng)金，但這項(xiàng)為期6個(gè)月的項(xiàng)目提供了一種不同的獎(jiǎng)品：初創(chuàng)公司將獲得一家身價(jià)高達(dá)數(shù)十億美元的頂級(jí)客戶。

????“英國(guó)廣播公司本身就有能力成為一家卓越的頂級(jí)客戶，”BBC Worldwide實(shí)驗(yàn)室主管珍妮?菲爾丁說(shuō)。這家廣播巨頭可以成為“這些公司從事商業(yè)化經(jīng)營(yíng)的合作伙伴。”

????上面這些項(xiàng)目的與眾不同之處在于，初創(chuàng)企業(yè)就在產(chǎn)品實(shí)施者的眼皮底下運(yùn)作。這種靠近客戶的設(shè)計(jì)旨在克服初創(chuàng)企業(yè)和大公司進(jìn)行互動(dòng)時(shí)經(jīng)常出現(xiàn)的隔閡。

????對(duì)于缺乏經(jīng)驗(yàn)的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)來(lái)說(shuō)，與大公司合作是一件非常困難的事情。作為英國(guó)廣播公司數(shù)字企業(yè)（Digital Ventures）主管，菲爾丁經(jīng)常親自指導(dǎo)這些初創(chuàng)企業(yè)了解英國(guó)廣播公司多樣化的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。她之所以把這個(gè)項(xiàng)目放在英國(guó)廣播公司倫敦媒體中心（London Media Center）的總部，目的是希望這些小企業(yè)能夠更快地適應(yīng)英國(guó)廣播公司，進(jìn)而與之進(jìn)行卓有成效的合作。

????英國(guó)廣播公司和《愛(ài)爾蘭時(shí)報(bào)》都不會(huì)持有其孵化的初創(chuàng)公司的股權(quán)。恰恰相反，這兩家媒體公司希望與這些初創(chuàng)公司建立一種面向未來(lái)、最終規(guī)模遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)大于現(xiàn)在的伙伴關(guān)系。

????媒體公司將重心放在由初創(chuàng)企業(yè)驅(qū)動(dòng)的創(chuàng)新之上，既是一種利用新一代青年才俊的嘗試，也是令人失望的內(nèi)部工作造成的結(jié)果。最初處于在線新聞最前沿的《愛(ài)爾蘭時(shí)報(bào)》自1994年啟動(dòng)其網(wǎng)站以來(lái)，數(shù)字化項(xiàng)目一直萎靡不振；英國(guó)廣播公司的復(fù)雜性則讓潛在的初創(chuàng)企業(yè)合作者望而卻步。

????瑞安和菲爾丁都預(yù)料到同行也將采用他們的內(nèi)部創(chuàng)新孵化器機(jī)制。“我認(rèn)為這個(gè)領(lǐng)域的發(fā)展趨勢(shì)是顯而易見(jiàn)的，”瑞安說(shuō)。“報(bào)紙經(jīng)常扮演教堂的角色，我們現(xiàn)在則需要向集市開(kāi)放。”

????這些內(nèi)部創(chuàng)新孵化器是一種已經(jīng)被其他行業(yè)采用的做法。作為一個(gè)將初創(chuàng)企業(yè)與百事可樂(lè)家族不同品牌匹配在一起的企業(yè)加速器，PepsiCo10即將進(jìn)入第三個(gè)年頭，競(jìng)賽地點(diǎn)已經(jīng)從最初的英國(guó)擴(kuò)展到了巴西和印度。

????百事可樂(lè)公司（PepsiCo）全球數(shù)字化和社交媒體業(yè)務(wù)主管喬希?卡普夫?qū)τ诿襟w效仿該公司的創(chuàng)意這一事實(shí)并不感到驚訝。

????“科技正在影響每個(gè)產(chǎn)業(yè)，媒體也不例外，”他在發(fā)給《財(cái)富》雜志（Fortune）的一封電郵中寫(xiě)道。“有些技術(shù)將在3到5年內(nèi)影響一些公司的業(yè)務(wù)，主動(dòng)挖掘這些技術(shù)的公司最終將贏得未來(lái)。”

????譯者：任文科

????The New York Times may not be called the Gray Lady because of its age, but most people identify media companies as slow, heavy-footed enterprises. In an effort to jump-start their online brands, The Irish Times and the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide, are turning to startup power by establishing intercompany startup incubators to harness young businesses' disruptive energies.

????The goal of the challenge is akin to the plot of a Hollywood movie: a young up-and-comer works with a grumpy old mentor to overcome a problem, learning a valuable life lesson in the process. In this case, the problem is how to better monetize a company's online presence and the life lesson is the experience startups get by working with a large company, says The Irish Times Chief Innovation Officer Johnny Ryan.

????Ryan is the brains behind The Irish Times Digital Challenge, in which five early-stage companies -- 81 applied -- spend eight weeks working at the Times to translate their pitch into virtual reality. While their ideas widely vary, their end goal is the same, to win €50,000 (about $61,000) from venture capital fund DFJ Esprit. The winning team must prove to the Times that its product provides the largest revenue potential and improvement to reader experience.

????BBC Worldwide Labs, a new business accelerator for startups, takes a similar but distinct tack. There is no competition between the fledgling companies and no prize money, but the six-month program offers a trophy of a different sort: the startups get a first client worth billions.

????"The BBC can be a great first customer," says BBC Worldwide Labs Head Jenny Fielding. The broadcasting giant can be "a partner at the point of commercialization for these companies."

????What makes these programs distinctive is that the startups operate just down the hall from the people implementing their products. This proximity to the client is designed to overcome obstacles usually found in interactions between startups and large corporations.

????Working with big companies is difficult for fledgling businesses. Fielding, in her role as the head of Digital Ventures at the BBC, often has to personally guide startups through the BBC's diverse ecosystem. By situating the program in the BBC's London Media Center headquarters, she expects the smaller startups to more quickly acclimate to and efficiently work with the larger BBC.

????Neither the BBC nor The Irish Times will take equity stakes in the young companies they incubate. Instead, the media companies hope to establish a relationship with these startups that is ultimately scalable into a larger, future partnership.

????The focus on startup-driven innovation is both an attempt to harness the next generation of young talent and a result of disappointing internal work. Originally at the forefront of online journalism, The Irish Times' digital efforts have sagged since launching their website in 1994, while the complexity of the BBC confounds potential startup collaborators.

????Both Ryan and Fielding expect their company's internal startup incubators to get adopted by their industry competitors. "I think the writing is on the wall," Ryan says, "Newspapers often act as cathedrals, and we need to open ourselves up to the bazaar."

????These types of internal startup incubators are a practice already adopted by other industries. PepsiCo10, a business accelerator that matches startups with various brands in the PepsiCo family, is about to enter its third year, expanding from its original U.K contest to ones in Brazil and India. Ryan cites the program as inspiration for his digital challenge.

????Director of Global Digital and Social Media at PepsiCo Josh Karpf isn't too surprised to see media companies adopt PepsiCo's idea.

????"Technology is affecting every industry today, and media is no different, he says in an email to Fortune. "Companies that are trying to find technologies that will impact their businesses three to five years down the line are the ones who will win in the future."