Master's thesis: Innovation workshop concept to help develop sustainable services in Tourism
In her Master's thesis, Reija Hellman designed an innovation workshop concept to find solutions for the problems caused by overtourism.
The numbers of visitors in popular tourist destinations are increasingly growing. This phenomenon called overtourism is causing many undesirable changes in these areas such as general overcrowding, negative reactions to tourism by residents, as well as unwanted physical change and damage to local resources (natural and cultural) in the area, among others. In her Master's thesis Co-creating an Innovation Workshop Concept - Case: MOTION, Reija Hellman designed an innovation workshop concept to find solutions for the problems caused by overtourism.
The purpose of the concept
The Master’s Thesis designed an innovation workshop concept for and in co-creation with an EU funded project called MOTION. The name MOTION is derived from the goal of the project: “from overtourism to innovating sustainable solutions in the EU”. The project addresses overtourism issues and low-quality experiences in five EU regions: ToruĊ (Poland), Granada (Spain), Klaipeda (Lithuania), Fehmarn (Germany) and Rovaniemi (Finland).
MOTION aims to organize five Intensive Study Programs (ISP’s) during the lifecycle of the project, in each geographical location the project. Each ISP incorporates the hands-on 5-day innovation workshop designed in the Master’s Thesis.
The aim of the concept
The designed concept aims to co-creatively innovate novel and sustainable services in tourism by using Futures Thinking and Design Thinking.
Futures Thinking is a future-oriented approach that aims to sense weak signals and trends in order to understand alternative futures allowing to identify threats andopportunities emerging in the environment. Futures Thinking methods and tools help to make sense of complex situations, imagine unexpected possibilities, and broaden perspectives.
Design Thinking is a human-centered and solution-based approach to solve problems, seeking to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify alternative solutions that might not be instantly apparent with the initial level of understanding. Design thinking methods and tools help to incubate ideas and create innovative solutions.
The innovation workshop concept
The outcome of the Thesis was a 5-day-long innovation workshop concept centering on the goals of the MOTION project and the user (facilitator) needs. In the end, the workshop concept was concretized and visualized in the form of a toolkit. The purpose of the toolkit is to help MOTION project partners to facilitate the workshops. It guides the facilitators through the workshop by providing the process, methods, tools, instructions, and templates needed to reach the goal of the workshop.
The innovation workshop concept was built by co-creatively adjusting an innovation process with a mixture of Design Thinking and Futures Thinking methods and tools. The concept emphasizes sustainability from three aspects: economic, environmental, and social (profits, planet, and people).
Even though the workshop concept was designed for a defined goal and usage of the MOTION project, it is possible to adjust and apply in other industries and usages as well.
Background
The Master’s Thesis was done by Reija Hellman during the year of 2021. The thesis builds on existing research and theory on Service Innovation, Design Thinking and Futures Thinking through published international sources, as well as expert discussions.Furthermore, Service Design was used as the practical approach and methodology to build the workshop concept in order to design it to base on user (workshop facilitator) needs.
Read the Master's Thesis in Theseus.
Further information:
Reija Hellman
MBA in Service Innovation and Design
reija.hellman@gmail.com