Where Academic Research Meets Industrial Application - Reflecting Knowledge Exchange Loops from Research to Industry and vice Versa

One of the major strengths of the ENTER conference series – or presumably its unique selling proposition (USP) lies in the combination of the academic and the industry world. However, in order to really benefit from such mutual relationships, knowledge exchange processes between universities and their industry partners should be well understood so that they can be effectively managed and continuously improved. Thus, the goal of the ENTER panel workshop 2011 was to critically discuss knowledge exchange loops in the e-Tourism field, thereby trying to consider various industry standpoints (i.e. travel, tourism, ICT-branches) and concerns related to applied study fields (e.g. tourism, marketing, business informatics, etc.) or scientific disciplines (e.g. informatics, social sciences, engineering, economics, etc.). A total of six panelists largely representing these academic and industry sectors debated the core questions of “how well collaboration between research and industry works in the field of e-Tourism” and “what could be done to improve this cooperation”. Below, a summary of the panelists‟ major assessments is provided.