Interreg project “INNOViMENTOR”

INNOViMENTOR

INNOViMENTOR:“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.” 

Co-founded by the European Union and national Funds of the participant countries:

INTEREG – IPA Cross Border programme “Balkan -Mediterranean“

TRANSNATIONAL PARTNERSHIP:

• GREECE: UNIVERSITY OF THE AEGEAN – WAVE LAB – LEAD  PARTNER
• GREECE: CULTUREPOLIS
• BULGARIA: UBBSLA – UNION OF BULGARIAN BLACK SEA LOCAL AUTHORITIES
• BULGARIA:CHI – CENTER FOR HERITAGE INTERPRETATION
• CYPRUS: MUNICIPALITY OF STROVOLOS
• ALBANIA: LERDA – LEZHA REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
• ALBANIA: UNIque JE- UNIQUE JUNIOR ENTERPRISES
• MACEDONIA: B.A.T .BALKANIA – BALKAN ASSOCIATION FOR ALTERNATIVE TOURISM

The program aims to boost tourism microenterprises in isolated areas of the Balkans and the Mediterranean, through innovative practical applications and actions. In the long term the project aims to improve the travel experience in these destinations in Mediterranean countries: Macedonia, Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Albania.

-Lead Partner in the project is the “Aegean University, Business Administration Department” (Greece) and the 7 participating partners are organisations from 5 countries: CulturePolis (Greece), The Nonprofit organization “Union of Bulgarian Black Sea Local Authorities”, the “Centre for Heritage Interpretation” (Bulgaria), the “Nicosia Development Agency” (Cyprus), the “Lezha Regional Development Agency” (Albania), the “Unique Junior Enterprise” (Albania) and our “ A.B.A.T. Balkania Skopje -Balkan Association for Alternative Tourism”.

The activities in Macedonia will be conducted in the East planning region.

Summary:

INNOViMENTOR supports SMEs 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 leads to a NEW BUSINESS MODEL built on customer insights, key experiences and stakeholder participation integrating transversal key competences into the product-process innovation. Domain specific skills development, open to all, follow 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 designed and open access product model in 8 BALKAN-MED regions in GR/BG/CY/AL/FY. The prototype builds an unprecedented opportunity to terminate the vicious cycle of generating and distributing low quality tourism commodities exchangeable by price. To test the tourism consumption at place level, the model draws on authentic and multicultural experiences that strive to complement existing tourism services (accommodation, facilities, transport, catering, souvenirs and traditional products, open- indoor and artistic activities).

Exploiting the technology intense experience, an open access PRODUCT-TRILOGY is inspired by the COUNCIL OF EUROPE Principles for Cultural Routes: a CREATIVE TOURISM ROUTE with 80 unique demonstration points, 8 Place Games, an iBOOK readable on iOS/Android/Windows available as a free download, an open access iCloud Museum and a demo App establish a model community, transforming visitors to place-fame generators.

The TRILOGY enters the 36th International Tourism Fair 2019 in Sofia addressing the connected consumers, senior and youth market. The Partnership designs and delivers 5 open access tourism innovations; conducts 12 surveys, plans, studies and research reports; offers 17 skill building activities, 3 permanent networks and a TRAINING INFRASTRUCTURE  with 12 open access tools.

The Project-driven TOURISM BUSINESS NETWORK replicates the PROJECT LEGACY with 168 outputs/results accessible to all at the Project Website.  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 interested tourism businesses with research centers in the Project Area.

BALKANIA – Balkan Association for Alternative Tourism www.balkania-association.com