By using elements of the Innovation Loop, the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia organized a co-creative idea workshop focusing on technology and tourism in the Jakobstad region. The workshop targeted companies, students, development organizations and actors from the public and higher education sector.
During the one-day workshop the participants succeeded in generating and pitching five new ideas on how to create sustainable travel experiences by using new technological solutions. In addition, local stakeholders got valuable insights into how the Innovation Loop can act as a means for bringing citizens, companies and public actors together and for enhancing open social innovation in regional development work.
The workshop began with three introductory presentations. Emil Hägglund and Nicke Berglund introduced the participants to the concept of the Innovation loop. Tina Frisk from EcoLyx talked about entrepreneurship and, in particular, about sustainable tourism as a future trend. Finally, Greger Burman from Adopticum illustrated optical measurement techniques as a means for creating new digital products and services in a variety of business. The participants also got the opportunity to try out the latest technique within this area.
The participants eagerly continued to generate ideas which focused on combining the archipelago with new technological solutions. The final ideas ranged from tourism experiences in darkness to services offering meetings and conferences outside. Many of the ideas developed tapped into a key message from Tina Frisk’s presentation, namely, the growing importance of creating educational travel experiences and travels offering small-scale experiences. The workshop also resulted in further collaboration between the regions, as the winning team decided to develop and pitch their idea at the Innovation Loop workshop at Meeting Place Lycksele in Sweden.
The workshop was realized within the Interreg Europe project OSIRIS and in joint collaboration between the Regional Council of Ostrobothnia, Jakobstad Regional Development Company Concordia and the Region of Västerbotten.
