Tyrol Wellness – company cooperation for health and well-being

Best Practice

Topics

• Regional value added

Short description

The Tyrol Wellness Cluster is a regional network of companies focusing wellness, well-being and health ("hardware" and "software" companies) aiming at using regional and alpine resources for the creation of high quality offers within wellness. It creates thereby regional value for its members and the project's stakeholders. The cluster's activities include the positioning of the brand "Tyrol Wellness" on national and international markets by creating an image of expertise concerning wellness and health, product innovations, networking within the Province of Tyrol, marketing and pr (building-up an internet portal, etc.), organising events (e.g. Wellness Symposium 2005) to instigate discussion on relevant themes concerning wellness and health,...  Is there made use of endogenous resources? Which ones? The partner companies (producing wellness products) use regional products to ensure the authenticity according to the slogan “Wellness – made in Tyrol“. Furthermore, at least two thirds of the participants have to be Tyrolean companies to ensure the connection with the region.  What is the specific relevance of the results for the Alps? The usage of regional resources for wellness products. This creates a special quality and authenticity and in addition has a marketing effect for the regional tourism. Tyrol is positioned as centre for health & wellness and wellness production. Another distinctiveness is the cooperation of software (physiotherapists, university, etc.) and hardware (architects, producers of equipment, such as saunas, beds, etc.) companies within the scope of wellness.

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Project executive

Main responsibilities: - Coordination of subprojects - Coordination and information of partner companies

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Participants

- 57 partner companies which participate in different subprojects - Association Tyrol Wellness as project executive (coordination of the cluster’s activities, consultancy and information for members and customers, instigating projects, organisaing events, etc.) - Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung (financial backer, partner in different projects, consultancy and cental coordination of cluster initiatives) External cooperations: - Economic Chamber of Tyrol (consulting function, partner for certain educational initiatives)  Key person The driving force of the project was Margarethe Patscheider. She leaded a group of visionaries and is responsible for the design of the project. She participates as partner in the cluster at present.

Objectives

- Using regional and alpine resources for the creation of high quality offers within wellness - Turning Tyrol and its companies into the centre of wellness production - Marketing and presentation of products and producers to its target groups (hotels and gastronomy, health institutions, spas, etc. - Fostering networking between the participants and making use of the emerging synergies. - Cooperation in research & development in order to improve the companies’ capacity for innovation. - Creating a common marketing platform in order to be competitive on national and international (especially Italy, Switzerland and South Germany) target markets. - Instigating education and training in wellness professions - Product innovations within the core competency “Alpine”: using regional resources and values for new wellness products and applications (slogan “wellness – made in Tyrol”). - Generating regional value added directly for its participants and indirectly for the tourism sector.

Activities

- Positioning the brand „Tyrol Wellness“ on national and international markets, i.e. creating an expert image for the production of wellness products - Fostering cooperations within the scope of wellness: cooperations between participants, cooperations between participants and the tourism sector (hotels, gastronomy). Instruments: information and consultancy of the tourism sector (customer), information events and meetings to improve the informal relationship between the members, events and discussions concerning important wellness themes - Project „Wellness Suite“: development of wellness rooms, using Tyrolean resources (wood of the Swiss stone pine wood, stone, wool, etc.), integrated wellness equipment. The innovative element of “Wellness Suite” is the selective application of flavour, light, sound and the shielding from electromagnetic pollution. - Product innovation „Tyrolean Schneegrotte“: refresh oneself with snow after the sauna, a new technology of the snowguns producing snow without chemical additives and at all temperatures - Wellness Symposium: training and education for the target market hotel sector: information on trends, products and producers, instigating cooperations with cluster members. - Fostering networking within the cluster (organising discussions and theme nights to enable the companies to socialise formally and informally) - Creating an internet portal (to improve the internal and external communication and information) - Boosting regional information and cooperation platforms - Addressing important wellness themes within the region - Showing competency to improve the cluster’s and the participants image as experts

Process

1. Phase (11 / 2003 – Spring / 2005) – creating organisational structures and the general framework for the company cooperation: acquiring partner companies and seeking their confidence, establishing the network and the marketing platform. In the first phase was an intensive cooperation with the financial backer (and partner) Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung because of its great expertise in the management and establishment of cluster initiatives. The Tyrol Wellness cluster cooperated with established cluster initiatives (exchange of know how). In addition, Tyrol Wellness was supported by a external consultant (professional moderation of workshops concerning the positioning of the cluster and the definition of its business segments). 2. Phase 2 (2005 – 2008) – Positioning: Instigating projects, cooperations and initiatives and positioning the brand Tyrol Wellness on national ad international markets. Presentation of the business segments. Coaching the participants.

Results

- The sum of partner companies and the effective network between them - successful events, e.g. Wellness Symposium 2005 (raising awareness, addressing target groups, socialising, etc.) - Projects: “Entschleunigungsmassage” is a innovative method of treatment for the reduction of stress, it was developed by partner companies of the project,... - Product innovations: Wellness Suite, Tyrolean Schneegrotte - Informal relationships and networks between the partner companies. This encourages the exchange of know how and information and the willingness for cooperation.

Evaluation

Annually evaluation by the financial backer Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung: this is an internal evaluation (on financial data and concerning contents). The results of the evaluation are used for improvements and further activities. The Tiroler Zukunftststiftung supports this process (internal consultancy, exchange of know how, etc.) External evaluation on account of Tiroler Zukunftstsiftung: external consultancy agency, concentrates on the networking between the different Tyrolean clusters, analyses potentials for cooperation, best practice analysis.

Difficulties

Scepticism of the companies, no confidence (a necessary condition for cooperation). In addition the small structured economy in the province of Tyrol (large companies are more willing to cooperate than small ones because they lack the financial and personal resources needed for cooperation). A lot of events, theme nights (socialising, training, informal relationships, discussions) and workshops on the contents of the cluster (discussion of the goals of each partner and the cluster objectives, definition of business segments, etc. – external organisation and moderation) helped to overcome this difficulty. The chain of economic value added is very long and, therefore contains many different companies and branches with numerous different objectives and strategies. This makes it very difficult to find a compromise on the clusters’ objectives and activities.

Financial backer

One third of the cluster’s budget is financed by member fees of the participating companies (lump sum and additional fees for participation in projects). Two thirds are provided by Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung. Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung applies for subsidies and promotions (EU or national funds) for instigated projects. Large events: partner companies act as sponsors and external sponsors (e.g. Hypo Tirol Bank).

Source of information

Competition

Participant at the 2005 Future in the Alps competition

Homepage

http://www.tirolwellness.info

Comments

Impact on nature and environment

Using regional, alpine raw materials and resources (wood, stone, wool, herbs, etc.) and sustainable and environmentally-sound production.

Economic value added

The project has some marketing effect for the wellness tourism and, therefore, generates working places in this branch. The tourism aims at reducing the Tyrolean hotels’ dependence on season and weather (using wellness to generate an all-season efficiency). Education and training is a great concern of the cluster: cooperations to the private medical university and educational institutes in order to standardise the uncontrolled growth of dubious wellness professions and trainings. The cluster acts also as contact person for the hotel industry regarding qualified employees. The subprojects of the cluster developed new products (Wellness Suite, Tiroler Schneegrotte, etc.) and intends to enter new markets (Eastern Europe, Italy, Switzerland, Germany). The objective is to create an image of innovation, expertise and competency in the field of wellness products and transfer this image on other (new) markets.

Socio-cultural value added

The region’s awareness for health and wellness is rising due to information events and theme nights of the cluster. The regional population is an important target group for the cluster too: in cooperation with the Economic Chamber of Tyrol, the cluster sets new initiatives and programmes for a healthy lifestyle and well-being at home and at the working place.

Innovative content

- Product innovations: Wellness Suite, Tiroler Schneegrotte, etc. - Specialisation in producers of wellness products: tourism is target group (and sometimes partner in single projects) - The network of partner companies is a great support for the hotel industry because it is very difficult fort them to recognise the trends within the scope of wellness.

Good governance

The cluster’s board of directors (5 people) decides on the cluster’s activities and projects. These decisions are discussed in an interactive process with all partner companies (meeting, every 4 – 6 weeks, information on current news and developments, discussion,...). The transparency of decision is ensured by continous information: intranet, newsletter, personal contact, etc.

PR impact

Press releases in periodicals (on health, hotel industry, spa management, etc.) Theme nights for the cluster’s target groups / customers. Fairs Impact: an increasing number of inquiries (from target groups), increasing interest in the cluster’s activities and new partner companies, the participation in fairs leads to rising reputation and sales of companies.

Multiplier effect / networking

The project was implemented cross-sectoral and therefore has many multiplier effects (to all branches of the chain of economic value added). Cooperations and a network have emerged among the participants. There are a lot of new initiatives and projects, developed by partner companies, which prove the existing network. The network is fostered with the help of events (discussions, meetings, theme nights, workshops, training programmes, etc.). The cluster exchanges know how and experiences with other Tyrolean cluster initiatives (Tiroler Zukunftsstiftung as centre for Tyrolean clusters).

Transferability

Transferring the project to other regions is difficult because Tyrol leads the way within wellness products and, therefore, is open for new projects, trends and initiatives. In addition, Tyrol itself is one of the cluster’s target markets (a large target group exists here: hotels, tourism providers, etc.). That is, the cluster developed based on an existing regional strength. Prerequisite of transferability: It is important to define the business segments and to specialise in some segments because the market is too big to comprise all wellness branches properly.

Further information