Setting up the Adriatic-Ionian Tourism Innovation Centre is a long-term action designed to provide a sustainable impetus of innovation, and allowing for maximum implementation for the common benefit of the ADRION area.

Innovation Centre Recommendation report document containing recommendations for Innovation Centre future operation. The aim of the document is to suggest actions to be taken in response to the findings and provide justification for them.

Adriatic-Ionian Tourism Innovation Centre (AITIC) is the main conceptual model of the FOST INNO project, established as a network of six contact points located in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia. The aim of the future multidisciplinary Centre is to facilitate knowledge on the role of innovations and assist in co-designing of sustainable tourism development. Sharing of knowledge and learning from the experience of others with focused, objective-seeking communication between individuals, groups, or organisations is a prerequisite for sustainable operating of the Centre. Role of the Centre is to promote close and long-term partnering. Furthermore, its role is also seen in assistance in contacting partner stakeholders and arranging an introductory meeting. Moreover, in the model of networked organisations and enterprises Centre obligation is to help with clarifying or reframing communications for better and quicker adoption.

Future activities of the AITIC include: transfer and exchange of know-how on sustainable tourism development and innovations, fostering innovations in tourism, promotion of innovations as a driver of sustainable tourism development, inclusion of stakeholders in the activities of the centre, educational activities and creation of ICT solution as knowledge base in the form of web application.

The ultimate purpose of the model lies in its’ contribution to the development of innovation culture that should lead to the sustainable tourism development in the Adriatic-Ionian region. In this sense, strategic goals for the AI Tourism Innovation Centre are defined and organized around six key topics: Legislation, Cooperation, Support, Transfer, Education and Research.

Specific strategic goals that will serve as a base for future activities are as follows:

  • Development of innovation taxonomy, its popularization and advocacy;
  • Lobbying (nationally) for the simplification and improvement of legislative acts dealing with innovations;
  • Education of stakeholders about innovations, sustainable tourism and about the importance of monitoring of innovations (innovations indicators);
  • Lobbying nationally (promoting) for the necessity of introducing obligatory reporting on innovations;
  • Creating an Open Innovation Platform;
  • Promoting changes of HEI curricula – introducing courses dealing with innovations and innovations in tourism;
  • Development and support of cooperation and networking between crucial stakeholders (enabling the transfer of knowledge and innovations from other sectors into tourism, cooperation between SMEs and large enterprises (win-win), Cooperation between HEIs and enterprises);
  • Development of research activities related to innovations and tourism).

Through development of a stronger innovation ecosystem AI partners are directly:

  • stimulating a more innovative, creative and risk-taking culture;
  • promoting a more dynamic and competitive AI region;
  • facilitating the entry into the AI market of new, fast-growing players;
  • improving the quality and scope of the advisory services in the field of the innovation in tourism;
  • finding the right metrics to track tourism innovations.