In 2021, Breda University of Applied Sciences – 7,000 students in the domains of Hotel Management, Facility Management, Games, Media, Logistics, Built Environment, Leisure & Events, and Tourism –discussed the impact of the emerging developments of immersive technologies (VR, AR, AI, Digital Twins) within the sectoral industries.This project, DigiReal – Digital Realities (DR) for Smart Industries - aimed to look beyond the diversity and variety of individual use cases to develop valuable concepts and innovations in methodologies and lab infrastructure, discussing questions: how do we create, use and experience DR sensibly, meaningfully, and responsibly?This report contains a coherent summary of the project with a lot of (domain) examples and technological developments. As a result, this report contains a BUas-wide research agenda on Digital Realities with a framework of overall, generic research questions, methodologies and ecosystems. This research has been financed by Regieorgaan SIA, part of the Dutch National Funding Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
Technology is becoming omnipresent in public spaces: from CCTV cameras to smart phones, and from large public displays to RFID enabled travel cards. Although such technology comes with great potential, it also comes with apparent (privacy) threats and acceptance issues. Our research focuses on realizing technologyenhanced public spaces in a way that is acceptable and useful for the public. This paper gives a brief overview of the research that is aimed to unlock the positive potential of public spaces. This paper’s main focus is on the acceptance of sensor technology in the realm of tourism. The ITour project which investigates the potential and acceptance of using (sensor) technology and ambient media to collect, uncover and interpret data regarding tourists’ movements, behavior and experiences in the city of Amsterdam is particularly discussed as an example.
The capacity to deal with digital transformation is a valuable asset for established organizations, and employees play a crucial role in this process. This study contributes to the understanding of employees’ sensemaking of digital transformation in the tour operating industry. Using prior digital transformation research, construal-level theory (CLT), and dynamic change perspectives, our scholarly work focuses on the complexities of organizational change in a digital transformation context. Although employees generally support digital transformation, our findings show that their perceptions change over time across a range of specific challenges experienced during the employee change journey. Our findings stress the importance of adopting a social exchange lens in digital transformation knowledge as this represents deep structure change that might cause well-designed transformation processes to fail. Implications for hospitality and tourism management are discussed.
MULTIFILE
The recently established BUas Research & Graduate School has been set up to facilitate and coordinate both in-domain and cross-domain research projects. One of its ambitions is to connect our expertise on Digital Realities (DR) with our other research domains. This will give all domains a better position to contribute to the European ambition to create “a Europe fit for the digital age”. Additionally, the project will enable the SPRONG group DIGIREAL-XL to strengthen its visibility and reputation on a European level. Connecting with the European VR/AR Coalition will be an important step to achieve this goal, in combination with activities for extending our European network for DR applications. Key deliverable will be a grant proposal for the new European VR/AR-Lab, in which we combine our DR expertise with our specialized knowledge in other domains (e.g. entertainment, culture, tourism and education). The ultimate goal is to establish a more coherent and focused research portfolio, and reach a better position to contribute to a greener, more digital and more resilient Europe.
Cross-Re-Tour supports European tourism SME while implementing digital and circular economy innovations. The three year project promotes uptake and replication by tourism SMEs of tools and solutions developed in other sectors, to mainstream green and circular tourism business operations.At the start of the project existing knowledge-gaps of tourism SMEs will be researched through online dialogues. This will be followed by a market scan, an overview of existing state of the art solutions to digital and green constraints in other economic sectors, which may be applied to tourism SME business operations: water, energy, food, plastic, transport and furniture /equipment. The scan identifies best practices from other sectors related to nudging of clients towards sustainable behaviour and nudging of staff on how to best engage with new tourism market segments.The next stage of the project relates to two design processes: an online diagnostic tool that allows for measuring and assessing (160) SME’s potential to adapt existing solutions in digital and green challenges, developed in other economic sectors. Next to this, a knowledge hub, addresses knowledge constraints and proposes solutions, business advisory services, training activities to SMEs participating. The hub acts as a matchmaker, bringing together 160 tourism SMEs searching for solutions, with suppliers of existing solutions developed in other sectors. The next key activity is a cross-domain open innovation programme, that will provide 80 tourism SMEs with financial support (up to EUR 30K). Examples of partnerships could be: a hotel and a supplier of refurbished matrasses for hospitals; a restaurant and a supplier of food rejected by supermarkets, a dance event organiser and a supplier of refurbished water bottles operating in the cruise industry, etc.The 80 cross-domain partnerships will be supported through the knowledge hub and their business innovation advisors. The goal is to develop a variety of innovative partnerships to assure that examples in all operational levels of tourism SMEs.The innovation projects shall be presented during a show-and-share event, combined with an investors’ pitch. The diagnostic tool, market scan, knowledge hub, as well as the show and share offer excellent opportunities to communicate results and possible impact of open innovation processes to a wider international audience of destination stakeholders and non-tourism partners. Societal issueSupporting the implementation of digital and circular economy solutions in tourism SMEs is key for its transition towards sustainable low-impact industry and society. Benefit for societySolutions are already developed in other sectors but the cross-over towards tourism is not happening. The project bridges this gap.
The Academy for Leisure & Events has always been one of the frontrunners when it comes to the development, design and implementation of cultural tourism and creative industry business models as well as lifelong learning programmes.These programmes are attended by a variety of leisure and tourism professionals, including public authorities in leisure, culture and nature fields.The CULTURWB project addresses the need for strengthening the development of the cultural tourism industry.The experts from BUas together with the other project partners have utilised diverse research methodologies (marketing and branding, strategy business planning, digital tourism, sustainable development, strategy and action plan implementation, etc.) to develop and pilot a toolkit for Lifelong Learning courses in the field of cultural tourism and heritage. They have also designed and implemented a master’s programme in the WB countries and created an online platform for communication between stakeholders, industry leaders, managers, workforce, and academia.PartnersHochschule Heibronn, FH Joanneum Gesellschaft, World University Service - Österreichisches Komitee (WUS Austria), Dzemal Bijedic University of Mostar (UNMO), University of East Sarajevo (UES), The University of Banja Luka (UBL), University of NIS (UNI), University of Montenegro (UoM), Sarajevo Meeting of Cultures (SMOC), rovincial Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (PZZZSK), Tourism Organisation of Kotor Municipality (TO Kotor)
