Sun&Blue Research
In this way, professionals can learn about advances in scientific knowledge in the field of tourism and the blue economy. Its objective is to promote understanding and collaboration between university researchers and professionals and institutions in the tourism sector. It serves as a point of debate and meeting for academics and researchers related to the conservation and economic valuation of large aquatic spaces and, especially, the tourism industry.
Sun&Blue Research is designed to share knowledge and promote innovation in the field of tourism and blue economy as a way to move towards sustainability.
It is a forum that promotes win-win solutions (for both professionals and researchers). On one hand, the research generated at the university represents advances and concerns that can be useful for companies and professionals in the sector; in this forum, cutting-edge university knowledge is brought closer to professionals as a potential source of innovation (it can inspire new developments or possible business lines). On the other hand, companies and professionals can (in addition to leveraging knowledge) guide the advancement of research towards practical applications.
Professionals can raise specific challenges and problems in the sector to which scientific knowledge can provide solutions. Researchers can also find inspiration from professionals and orient their research towards issues that concern the sector and identify research or transfer gaps.
There are few forums where these advances from the professional and academic world are shared, and this space aims to establish itself as one of them.
This activity primarily promotes social sustainability as it attempts to align tourism research with society's demands, but it also favors the identification of new business opportunities (economic aspect) and improvement of impact on the natural environment (environmental aspect). In this first edition, works with diverse themes have been discussed, ranging from digital twins, diagnosis of social impact of coastal tourism, digitalization of tourism SMEs, pro-environmental behavior of tourists, circular economy in tourism, to circularity aids for the sector.
