Organizational innovation for sustainability in urban tourism: innovation and applied intelligence

1. Organizational innovation for sustainability in urban tourism:innovation and applied intelligence Prof. Antonio Paolo Russo Department of Geography URV Faculty of Tourism and Geography URV Coordinator of Master in Management of Tourism Destinations ‘TURISME SOSTENIBLE PER AL DESENVOLUPAMENT EN EL MARC DE LA NOVA AGENDA URBANA’ Barcelona, 18-19 de maig de 2017

2. Triple helix of local development ACADEMIA (Universities and research centers) • Plans for the urban development of HE functions • Finance strategic educational and research programs • Organizes the life of the university communities Staff Students • Provide professional competencies • Finance strategic educational and research programs Workers • Produces strategic knowledge and pushes innovation • Is an hub of intersectorial partnerships • Trains human capital • Provides consumers • Provides ‘new citizens’ • Gives status and international visibility to city • Produces strategic knowledge for governance and pushes innovation • Offers services and spaces to city ECONOMIC SECTORS (Industry and services) COMMUNITY (different scales) Governs and policymakers Workers Citizens Entrepreneurs 3rd sector • Work, markers, consumption, etc. • Benefits to society AP RUSSO

3. Relations city/ companies / universities: • Have become closer • Traditional distance between academia and territory / locals economic systems • Since 1980-90 ‘re-territorialization’ of universities • Promotion of mix-initiative centers (techno-parks, incubators, etc.) for connection and transference between academia and territory • Growing dependence of universities from local funding • In the tourism field ... • Universities become strategic partners of the national industry • State, EU, etc. attribute a growing weight to this relation through FP, H2020, etc. • In 1990-00 tourist cities and regions start to invest in ‘localized’ university and research centers • Distance / diffidence between government / industry and a part of the academic community that is critical with tourism; sparse dialogue with local society AP RUSSO

4. Which knowledge of tourism provided by academia? • ... To the industry (at company / local tourism system level) • Tools and methods to assess performance / benchmarking • Research of markets and new trends • Study of processes of innovation • Identification of territorial resources • Quality standards • ... To local communities / governments • Critical understanding of tourism impacts • Study of working conditions in/around tourism • Study of mechanisms and impacts of planning and regulation of tourism activity • Comprehension of interaction between different populations • Reflection about what is tourism nowadays AP RUSSO

5. Which knowledge of tourism provided by academia? • ... To the industry (at company / local tourism system level) • WELL EXPLOITED (in Catalonia and other places) • Good practices: Tourist Observatories (Costa Daurada, Sardinia, etc.), Thinktur, Biosphere, NECSTOUR, ECM, etc. • ... To local communities / governments • NOT SO WELL EXPLOITED OR STRUCTURED • New generation of ‘grassroots’ Observatories (e.g. OVQ, Alba Sud, etc.) • Exploitation of big data produced (and owned) by the industry • Ground knowledge of civic groups (often integrated by academics): e.g. FAVB, ABTS, etc. • CHALLENGE: • Development of a structured strategy of collaboration between academia, communities and governments for integration of knowledge (new; critical; qualitative) of trends, articulations and impacts of tourism in places AP RUSSO

6. Which knowledge needed today to face the challenge of a sustainable / resilient tourism? • Not only the HOW MANY but also the HOW, the WHERE, with WHICH EFFECTS: • Tourist movements / practices in the city: • How many visitors (of different types) in different moments of the day • Where they go and how they move • Patters of use of public space, consumption, activity • Where / in which forms of accommodation they dwell • Perceptions of the city and co-construction of place image • Job market and biographies of workers • Impacts of tourism on quality of life and perceptions of citizens and urban collectives AP RUSSO

7. Which knowledge needed today to face the challenge of a sustainable / resilient tourism? • This knowledge / data now available in forms that are… • unstructured / disperse / not systematic / ‘private’ • We need a new agent (Observatory of Mobilities 2.0?) that integrates, analyses and diffuses all that • Producing periodical reports and open data-bases sources that can be taken profit of by the government and citizens • The commitment of the private sector is fundamental also for its own sake • A well-managed, resilient and sustainable development means a more competitive place for a tourism industry with social reasonability (triple helix!) AP RUSSO

8. Gràcies per la vostra atenció!antonio.russo@urv.cat@APRuss_tarraco http://www.urv.cat/dgeo/gratet/en_index.htmlwww.moveturproject.org AP RUSSO