Generating SME product and process innovation with a new tourism mobility model, stakeholder alliances and skills alliances to facilitate the market uptake of local enterprises in remote and sparsely populated areas.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

INNOViMENTOR supports  businesses in remote, peripheral and sparsely populated areas to grow in regional, national and international markets and engage in innovation processes in the tourism sector. To prevent brain drain and effectively address the skills-job mismatch tourism businesses are facing in the Balkan-Med Area, skills needs and supply-demands trends are mapped. To achieve cross-sector-cooperation, INNOViMENTOR is reforming and reshaping the supply-demand pattern addressing stakeholder fragmentation, fully in accordance with the EU2020 GRAND SOCIETAL CHALLENGES/NEW NARRATIVE FOR EUROPE.

To enhance the innovation capacity of tourism SMEs and facilitate business transformation, a Work-Based-Learning in situ leads to a NEW BUSINESS MODEL built on customer insights, key experiences and stakeholder participation integrating transversal key competences into the product-process innovation. Professional skills in 40 SMs are certified with the European Qualification Framework (EQF). To prepare the uptake of tourism micro-enterprises and SMEs by the global market, the Partnership capitalizes on best practices from the international experience, so as to create and launch a locally produced and globally distributed final product: implemented in 8 BALKAN-MED regions in GR/BG/CY/AL/FY it builds an unprecedented opportunity to terminate the vicious cycle of generating and distributing low quality tourism commodities exchangeable by price. Seamlessly connected with tourism consumption points at place level, the product combines authentic and multicultural experiences along with needed tourism services, accessible in real time, such as accommodation, facilities, transport, catering, souvenirs and traditional products, open- indoor and artistic activities.

Exploiting the technology intense experience a PRODUCT-TRILOGY is inspired by the COUNCIL OF EUROPE  Principles for Cultural Routes: a CREATIVE TOURISM ROUTE with 80 unique selling points, 8 Augmented Reality PLACE DISCOVERY GAMES, an iOS/Android iBOOK and a Booking App establish new byer-community, transforming  product-buyers to product-(re)sellers and place-fame generators. The TRILOGY enters the 36th International Tourism Fair 2019 in Sofia targeting the connected consumer market, the senior and youth market. The Partnership designs and delivers 5 product innovations; conducts 12 surveys, plans, studies and research reports; offers 17 skill building activities, 5 permanent networks and a TRAINING INFRASTRUCTURE  with 12 permanent tools.

The Project-driven TOURISM BUSINESS NETWORK exploits the PROJECT LEGACY with 68 highly replicable outputs/results.  The BALKAN-MED ROVING BUSINESS SCHOOL & CONSULTANCY with 8 branches in the Project Area ensures result sustainability, post project operations and follow-up activities, permanently linking 40 tourism businesses with research centers in the Project Area.

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DELIVERABLES