NORDIC INNOVATION REPORT 2014:04 // JUNE 2014 Digital Toolbox: Innovation for Nordic Tourism SMEs Digital Toolbox: Innovation for Nordic Tourism SMEs Authors: Oddny Wiggen and Maria Lexhagen (eds) June 2014 Nordic Innovation Publication 2014:4 Digital Toolbox: Innovation for Nordic Tourism SMEs Nordic Innovation Publication 2014:04© Nordic Innovation, Oslo 2014 978-82-8277-062-0 (Print) 978-82-8277-061-3 (Digital) (URL: Nordicinnovation.org/publications) Authors: Oddny Wiggen and Maria Lexhagen (eds) Publisher Nordic Innovation, Stensberggata 25, NO-0170 Oslo, Norway Phone: (+47) 22 61 44 00. E-mail: [email protected] www.nordicinnovation.org All Nordic Innovation publications can be downloaded free of charge as pdf files from www.nordicinnovation.org/publications Cover photo: VTT Research Centre of Finland Copyright Nordic Innovation 2014. All rights reserved. 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PARTICIPANTS DENMARK Alexandra Institute A/S Trine Plambech Research and Innovation specialist Alexandra Institute A/S Camilla Kølsen Head of Research and Innovation Alexandra Institute A/S Christian Sinding Nelleman Research and Innovation specialist Alexandra Institute A/S Morten Skov Jørgensen Research and Innovation specialist Alexandra Institute A/S Lee Lassen Research- & Innovation Specialist FINLAND JAMK University of Applied Sciences Juha Tuulaniemi Specialist in Design & Innovation JAMK University of Applied Sciences Annina Riihinen Project Researcher Jyväskylä Innovation, OSKE – Centre of Expertise / Tourism and Experience Management Cluster Programme Miikka Raulo Development Director ICELAND Icelandic Tourism Research Centre Eyrún Jenný Bjarnadóttir Researcher Icelandic Tourism Research Centre Kristinn Berg Gunnarsson Researcher 3 North Iceland Marketing Office Halldór Óli Kjartansson Project manager North Iceland Marketing Office Arnheiður Jóhansdóttir General manager SWEDEN ETOUR (European Tourism Research Institute), Mid Sweden University Maria Lexhagen Director/Researcher ETOUR (European Tourism Research Institute), Mid Sweden University Matthias Fuchs Professor ETOUR (European Tourism Research Institute), Mid Sweden University/Hochschule Ravensburg- Weingarten, University of Applied Sciences Wolfram Höpken Professor Dr. SOUTHERN NORWAY Agderforskning AS Tor Helge Aas Senior Researcher NORTHERN NORWAY Novadis/Nordland Research Institute Oddny Wiggen Researcher Novadis/Nordland Research Institute Tone Magnussen Senior researcher Innovative Experiences Bård Jervan Project manager 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This report focuses on meeting the practical needs of tourism businesses in the Nordic countries when adopting and employing ICT in their operations. Taking into account the structure and challenges of the tourism industry in the Nordic region, the different case studies in this report represent different approaches to efficient use of ICT, offering a toolbox consisting of suggestions on how to take advantage of ICT for market communication, customer knowledge, service design and innovation. The report is a result of a collaborative project between 6 Nordic partners (research institutions and business clusters based in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, Southern Norway, and Northern Norway) which focused on identifying and developing ICT tools for innovation in Nordic tourism small businesses and destinations. The main objectives of the project have been to generate knowledge on ICT tools, to create improved commercial tools and concepts and also to build a strong Nordic cooperation between academic institutions and business clusters. The tools in the toolbox created as the main contribution from this project are all innovative and should as such serve as opportunities for both commercial development and implementation in various subsectors of the tourism industry and facilitate increased competitiveness. A strong Nordic cooperation between the tourism stakeholders and development and research institutes involved in the project is also an important outcome. The project has been implemented through parallel case studies which are all ground breaking in terms of research and development for innovation in tourism. Regular meetings and workshops have facilitated the exchange of knowledge and ideas between the case studies as well as the identification of common ideas and results. Multiple methods have been employed in the different cases of the project according to the nature of each case study. Two of the cases have developed and implemented ICT prototypes in the form of a new innovative mobile application (Denmark) and a business intelligence process for analyzing user generated content in a destination management information system (Sweden). In the Finish case ethnographic methods were used to develop a service design method and tool specifically for the tourism industry. The Icelandic case employed an online survey and website analysis for the purpose of building a webpage-design toolbox. Interview methods as well as review and participant observation was used in Northern Norway to explore effects of implementing short films as digital marketing tools for experience based businesses. Also, in the case in Southern Norway in-depth interviews were used to identify open innovation practices for experience based tourism businesses. The project has resulted in the development of a digital toolbox. The seven tools in the toolbox are: A mobile app (Pick your food with your mobile, Denmark) A service design toolkit (Finland) A customer knowledge tool (Customer journey canvas (Finland) A website analysis toolkit (Iceland) A user generated content sentiment analysis tool (Sweden) A methodology for open innovation (Southern Norway) A digital marketing tool (Short films for digital marketing, Northern Norway) The project also generated a few further findings on capabilities for competitiveness, customer knowledge for innovation, and digital marketing and social media for tourism SMEs. 5 Both tourism businesses, especially SMEs, and destination management organizations at local, regional, and national level will benefit from the results of this project. The benefits can be described as new knowledge and key insights as well as new practices which can be implemented and further developed and adapted to specific contexts. The tools are focused on using ICT for marketing and management of tourism as well as the implementation of new experience based services for new and existing businesses and customers. The tools also offer opportunities for further development and commercial implementation among various tourism stakeholders. Recommendations for further work within this field based on the project outcomes include; technological testing of the developed prototypes, identifying partners for further development of the prototypes, testing the tools (proof of concept) in various tourism markets, larger scale implementation for the purpose of evaluating expected effects, further empirical examination of proposed concepts, and identifying potential barriers and strategies to overcome these in order to achieve the full effect of the tools in the toolbox. It seems imperative to continue working on these issues both from a market failure perspective – because of the structural challenges described in the report, SMEs may need help, but also because employing ICT tools that cater to the particular needs of the businesses in their operations is vital to the competitiveness of the industry. Further, the Nordic tourism industry shares many characteristics, and this project illustrates the value and potential of cooperation on the industry’s challenges on a Nordic level. 6 TABLE OF CONTENT Participants ................................................................................................................................. 3 Table of content .......................................................................................................................... 7 PART 1 ........................................................................................................................................... 8 1.0 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 8 2.0 ICT in the experience economy in the Nordic Countries ........................................................ 9 3.0 Characteristics of the Nordic tourism industry ...................................................................... 11 4.0 The case studies providing the digital toolbox ..................................................................... 14 4.1 Pick your food with your mobile - Denmark ...................................................................... 14 4.2 Service design and customer journey canvas - Finland .................................................. 14 4.3 Website analysis of tourism companies in North Iceland - Iceland ................................... 14 4.4 UGC and business intelligence - Sweden ........................................................................ 15 4.5 Open innovation