By John Arenas | September 27, 2013

Is Coworking the New Incubator Model?

Imagine the ultimate virtual newspaper: Rather than fishing for readers, it is walking news. And it’s using coworking to do it.

The New York Times recently invited three startup companies to spend four months working in its offices on 8th Avenue in Manhattan. The incubator, timeSpace, is located on the 9th floor of the iconic building and will provide a home for budding businesses to work independently and with Times staffers.

While the startups—each of which work on some end of digital news content—were able to draw on the paper’s resources and gain valuable insight on responsible journalistic and business market, the Times also benefited. Investing in a startup can be like investing in a protégé. The four groups, and future groups chosen, will set off into the corporate arena charged with the voice and (ideally) the standards of the Times. It is a grassroots propulsion of journalistic standards online.

We think as more companies and coworking spaces become integrated — one mentoring and the other spreading — innovative ideas can reach larger audiences, who can call those missions to action.