High-Tech Journalism on the R&D&i Map in Europe (2013–2023)

The first two decades of the twenty-first century witnessed transformations in the world of communication, which have given rise to a variety of academic research projects on the subject. This study presents an initial mapping of the state of research, development, and innovation in the field of high-technology journalism in Europe from 2013 to 2023. To that end, it applies an exploratory methodology to the databases available through the Horizon Europe website in the section on ‘funded projects’, searching using the keywords ‘drones’, ‘UAV’, ‘virtual reality’ and ‘augmented reality’. In the case of artificial intelligence, the keywords correspond to different word elements associated with the application of artificial intelligence in news production. These searches were combined with the other terms like ‘digital journalism’, ‘high technology’, ‘digital transition’ and ‘journalistic metamorphosis’. The validation process filtered repetitions and eliminated any projects beyond the scope of the field of Communication. The research variables were the implementation period, the project title, the project number, the framework programme, the total cost, the European Union financial contribution, the university or research centre and the host institution country. The findings indicate that between 2013 and 2023, a total of 36 research projects were funded that describe the state of journalism in the early twenty-first century.