ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the request for further examination of innovation practices in tourism (Hjalager, 2012), specifically by focusing on the role of researchers during innovation processes. Knowledge, including research-based knowledge, may be produced either by employees, for example researchers, employed by the organization or by actors outside the organization, for example researchers employed in external research institutions such as universities. Research projects from three different programmes in the Norwegian Research Council (NRC) form the empirical basis of this study. In these programmes, the NRC stresses the importance of cooperation between industry and academia to stimulate innovation in firms. In the researching on position, researchers focus on how tourism organizations innovate and try to identify successful practices in different contexts. In the researching-for position, the researchers contribute concrete knowledge that organizations need to carry out innovation processes. In the researching-for position, the researchers contribute concrete knowledge that organizations need to carry out innovation processes.
