Innovation in knowledge-based destination: technology-driven vs. social-driven

Although academics and policymakers around the world recognise the disruptive power of the innovation, the research on innovation in tourism destinations is fragmented and manifests grey areas. The technology-driven approach in innovation prevails, neglecting the nature of the destination, as a complex system of relationships among diverse public and private actors, generating innovation based on knowledge sharing and dissemination. This paper contributes to the debate on innovation in destination proposing an integrative theoretical framework, which interprets the co-evolutionary processes of innovation in the knowledge-based destination. It considers two diverse processes of innovation in destination: the technology-driven innovation and the social-driven innovation. An exploratory multiple-case study was used to investigate an Italian and Finnish destination, in which actors have invested in social capital and information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructures, stimulating a co-evolutionary sequential process of pervasive innovation. The discussion and the conclusion suggest future research and challenges for academics, policymakers, and destination managers.