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Description
The project will enhance the capacity of stakeholders in Service Design and mobilize them to develop new, user-centered, and efficient approaches to industry issues. The project consists in the development of a toolkit which will guide entrepreneurs in applying service design in each operation, the development of a blueprint for upscaling tourism services through the service design methodology, and the organisation of an expert-led workshop which will provide training to help businesses integrate Service Design into their service business models. Coaching session will also be offered to assist beneficiaries in applying this methodology.
Summary of project results
Service Design best practices will help the stakeholders of the Greek tourism ecosystem redesign the existing services that are not meeting the needs of users, or to create new services that address unmet needs. By using this method, the project will address the challenges the Greek tourism industry faces, such as lack of digital literacy, lack of innovative mindsets, outdated business models and ways of operating and big distance between the client and the service provider. In other words, service design technologies and practices will help the tourism industry in Greece become more advanced, up-to-date, innovative skilled, competitive, innovative and sustainable, and offer new multidimensional experiences to the tourists. The project will thus increase the capacity of the stakeholders in Service Design and thus will mobilize them in finding new, user-centered, and effective solutions to the industry’s problems. Through developing new innovative tourism experiences, tourism businesses will also attract more visitors.
A training toolkit was designed, which includes 12 Service Design tools to address challenges in the tourism industry and to help tourism service/product providers develop user friendly services that are responsive to the market needs. This toolkit remains freely accessible on the project’s website.
A gender equality strategy, a risk management plan and a data management plan were developed; these were necessary prior to the implementation of the capacity building programme.
At the same time, a Blueprint for Upscaling Tourism Services was developed. This guide, which serves as a roadmap for tourism businesses looking to enhance their services through Service Design principles, will also remain publicly available.
After the development of the training programme, a 2-day Service Design workshop was organized in Thessaloniki, with 20 participants. The event, which included panel discussions, innovation talks, and networking opportunities, aimed at helping the beneficiaries get more familiar with the Service Design Methodology and integrate it into their business models. During the workshop, the beneficiaries networked with experts in the field.
A webinar was also organized to present the project outcomes; besides the beneficiaries, stakeholders of the Greek and European ecosystem participated.
Through the capacity building programme, the stakeholders of the Greek tourism industry were supported and helped to improve their services and upgrade the industry holistically. This will assist the stakeholders of the Greek tourism ecosystem improve their innovation and entrepreneurial skills, become more competitive and resilient, and make them better service providers in their respective fields. The beneficiaries of the BlueBridge project will learn to apply service design from scratch and, additionally, SMEs can use a set of practical and rigorous methods, tools, and frameworks by design to approach innovation, including the creation of new products, services, and customer experiences.
By using this method, the project will address the challenges the Greek tourism industry faces, overexploitation of several destinations, under exploitation of others, heavy environmental footprint, lack of digital literacy, lack of innovative mindsets, outdated business models and ways of operating and big distance between the client and the service provider. It will thus increase the capacity of the stakeholders in Service Design and thus mobilize them in finding new, user-centered, and effective solutions in the industry’s problems.
Though there was no donor partner, the promoter used, drew experience from similar best practices which were implemented by the Norwegian tourism ecosystem that utilize Service Design with the aim of tackling similar challenges in Greece. Envolve used its links with partners in Norway, such as design experts and business support organisations (the Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Design and Architecture in Norway agency etc) to benefit from the experience and success.