Proximity of Practice: Student-Practitioner Collaboration in Tourism

Carina Bregnholm Ren, Szilvia Gyimóthy, Martin Trandberg Jensen, Dejan Krizaj, Miha Bratec

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    Abstract

    There is a widespread acknowledgement among European policy-makers that higher education may potentially contribute to enhancing competitiveness of tourism. This has led to a sheer explosion of specific measures encouraging knowledge transfer with the private sector. Despite the importance of knowledge flow processes, the role of universities and students has been little researched or linked to the understanding of innovation defectiveness in tourism. Followed by a critical review of knowledge transfer and learning processes in generic development and tourism literature, the chapter presents an illustrative case from an innovation course on a Danish Master program in tourism. The case describes and discusses challenges in working with, creating and implementing innovation through student-practitioner collaboration. It is argued that successful innovation is not solely, as previously argued in innovation literature, conditioned by either geographical or social/relational proximity, but also by what we have termed proximity of practice.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationHandbook of Research on Innovation in Tourism Industries
    EditorsGry Alsos, Dorthe Eide, Einar Lier Madsen
    Number of pages23
    PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
    Publication dateMar 2014
    Pages325-348
    Chapter14
    ISBN (Print)978 1 78254 840 9
    ISBN (Electronic)978 1 78254 841 6
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Mar 2014

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