The context and focus of VISIT are to develop existing & new innovative services with SMEs on Nauvo-Korppoo, Fehmarn, Vis, Öland and Paxi-Corfu islands to boost local regions. HEI staff & students develop their knowledge & skills in different geographical regions, entrepreneurship, cultures & transversal skills, forming a sustainable network with SMEs for future cooperation. The background lies in the joint need to develop services on European islands with higher education. VISIT’s objectives are to form an international strategic partnership to develop new services with HEIs& islands; train students & SMEs on islands to develop services; enhance entrepreneurial skills of all; develop an online community with self-study module for SMEs& students; develop services in HEI courses with SMEs via online community in the future; provide internships for students on islands. VISIT supports cultural competences & social inclusion. The project is international due to international island tourism development, combined competences of partners as added value & demand of international collaboration between islands (ESPON). The project involves five HEIs: Laurea UAS Finland, Kiel UAS Germany, TEI of Epirus Greece, Linneaus University Sweden, VERN UAS, Croatia. The five islands are associated partners. The HEIs provide versatile expertise, including Service Innovation and Design, Business& Multimedia Marketing. , ICT, Tourism & Hospitality Management, Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Technology in Tourism, Sustainable Tourism, geographical specific knowledge in tourism and business. The project will design and innovate new services for SMEs on the islands with students. Students will go on internships on islands to cooperate with the entrepreneurs to implement developed services. These activities create different documents e.g. Service Logic Business Model Canvases,& VISIT Model for integration of innovative tourism services at local SMEs. The project designs innovative business case study guidelines to develop 30 service logic business model canvases (publication). The project develops VISIT training, learning & internship blended material for ISPs. Partners develop with islands an online community (self-study material, interactive cooperation, a learning environment for HEIs & SMEs). The activities are analyzed and results researched to define sustainability and transferability, published in VISIT Handbook to promote transfer& exploitation of results. The partners will organize short-term staff training on results& generating exploitation activities for future. The multiplier event is organized at ITB to share the results with stakeholders. The online community brings innovativeness to the front with future cooperation possibilities both in services development and studies, based on experiences & results from the project. This project combines HEI students & staff, and local organizations on islands to work together & create new, innovative services with Service Innovation and Design methods. The methodology for project implementation is based on LFA (logical framework approach). Goal, objectives, activities, results and indicators linked in one framework, leading to expected outcomes. All activities are designed to achieve main objectives, and indicators used to measure results systematically. Project results are: online community for insular entrepreneurs & HEIs (VISIT Online Community Intranet); internships for 30 students during the project, and more on a regular basis after the project; VISIT Model for integration of innovative tourism services at local companies; Business Model Case Study Guidelines; Collection of VISIT Case studies/Business Plans (30 innovative business plans/SLBMC based on the project work and BCMs); VISIT Training, Learning and Internship blended material (Technical & soft skills for students to bring to companies and learning outcomes they should receive from internships); VISIT Online Self-study module with relevant terminology for innovative services, course material; VISIT Handbook of project results & how to be transferred to other territories & HEIs; 50 new service ideas on the islands; trained students in ISPs (150); trained staff in STST (25); new high quality skills for professional use, civic & intercultural competences, design skills, entrepreneurial skills; one multiplier event. The long-term benefits of the project include strengthening the islands’ economy, generating new jobs, steady income, increasing sustainable tourism activities, international networking with other islands in online community, new projects, cooperation with partners to develop more services and businesses with the islands.
The context and focus of VISIT was to develop existing & new innovative services with SMEs on Nauvo-Korppoo-Seili, Fehmarn, Vis, Öland and Paxi-Corfu islands to boost local regions. HEI staff & students developed their knowledge & skills in different geographical regions, entrepreneurship, cultures & transversal skills, forming a sustainable network with SMEs for future cooperation. The background lay in the joint need to develop services on European islands with Higher Education. VISIT’s objectives were to form an international strategic partnership to train students & SMEs on islands to develop new services with HEIs and islands and to develop services with them; enhance entrepreneurial skills and cultural competences; develop an online community with self-study module for SMEs& students; develop services in HEI courses with SMEs via online community in the future; provide internships for students on islands. VISIT supported social inclusion. VISIT was established to promote international island tourism development, with combined competences of partners as added value & demand of international collaboration between islands (ESPON). The project involved five HEIs: Laurea UAS Finland, Kiel UAS Germany, TEI of Epirus Greece, Linneaus University Sweden, VERN’, Croatia. TEI left the project due to a merger. RGU (UK) joined VISIT but left due to the pandemic and Brexit issues. The five islands and their representatives were associated partners. The HEIs provided versatile expertise in many fields, e.g., Design Thinking, Business & Multimedia Marketing, ICT, Tourism & Hospitality Management, Entrepreneurship, geographical knowledge in tourism and business. VISIT engaged 27 businesses during the project, 201 students in ISPs (on location or online); approx. ten teachers each time of the 7 ISPs, in total 917 ECTS for students. In addition, VISIT has been integrated in some partners’ study units during the years, offering groups of students the possibility to to study about services on islands, generating more knowledge and ECTS. In total 17 students have worked as project assistants, also, earning ECTS and learning. VISIT designed and innovated new services for SMEs on the islands with students. Internships at SMEs on islands were planned to help businesses to implement the developed services but due to the pandemic it could not happen. VISIT created different documents e.g. Service Logic Business Model Canvases, and Innovative Business Plans for the SMEs. VISIT compiled Case Studies of the business plans and SLBMCs. The project created VISIT training, learning & internship blended material for ISPs, as well as an online community (self-study material, interactive cooperation, a learning environment for HEIs & SMEs). The activities were analyzed and results researched to define sustainability and transferability, published in VISIT Handbook to promote the transfer and exploitation of results. VISIT organized a successful online conference as their multiplier event. The project results are: Online Community for insular entrepreneurs & HEIs (VISIT Online Community Intranet); internships for students after the project; VISIT Model for integration of innovative tourism services at local companies; Business Model Case Study Guidelines; VISIT Case Studies (based on innovative business plans/SLBMCs); VISIT Training, Learning and Internship blended material (Technical & soft skills for students to bring to companies and learning outcomes they should receive from internships); VISIT Online Self-study module with relevant terminology for innovative services, course material; VISIT Handbook of project results & how to be transferred to other territories & HEIs; VISIT Workbook to learn services development; 1591 new service ideas for the islands; trained students in ISPs (201); new high quality skills for professional use, civic & intercultural competences, design skills, entrepreneurial skills; one multiplier event. The long-term benefits of the project include the possibilities of strengthening the islands’ economy, generating new jobs, steady income, increasing sustainable tourism activities, international networking and further training with other SMEs in Online Community, engaging students and SMEs in the Online Community in learning, new projects, cooperation with partners to develop more services and businesses with the islands.