Innovation in Internet-focused research

At the NetIdee awards ceremony held on November 20^th in Vienna’s Museumsquartier, Lidija Lalicic, Researcher, Lecturer and PhD Candidate, won one of six scholarships given out annually by the Netidee Internet Foundation Austria. The organization is the largest provider of funds for Internet-focused research in Austria, and awards the country’s best PhD research in this field.  

Her submission ‘’User-driven Innovation in Tourism in Social Media Spaces’’ caught the eye of the judges who were looking for fresh new ideas in the ever-expanding field of scholarly Internet research. The 5000€ award gives her the opportunity to support her PhD research in data collection and employ different research methods.

Lidija explains her focus, ‘’nowadays, the tourism industry is dominated by diverse forms of ICT. Many tourists search for information in social media spaces and use their mobile while traveling. We see many forms of user-generated content in forms of informal discussions, consumers creating structured reviews, promotion through self-created advertising videos, and modification of products and distribution of innovations.  Observing creative practices research as well as practitioners can reveal aspects which trigger this revolutionary creative behavior. Therefore, this research project also aims to highlight how companies can take advantage of the transparent characteristics of social media spaces. And optimality, the project will provide companies insights into how to learn and integrate different aspects from consumers’ creativity into their innovation strategies.  Conclusively, the overall aim of the study is to bridge the gap in literature on user-driven innovation and the integrated use of social media platforms in the field of tourism.’’

MU Congratulates Lidija on her award and wishes her continued success in her PhD research!