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Given the rapid growth of the Chinese cruise market, several Chinese cities are attempting to become a hub for cruise ships. The aim of this study is to evaluate the competitiveness of those cities with regard to hosting cruises. It employs a cloud model that transforms the qualitative description of competitive indicators into quantitative measurement and assesses the competitive advantage and specialization of the top homeports in China. Questionnaires are delivered to experts from eight cruise ports in China and the cloud model based on 14 evaluation factors is used to analyze the competitiveness of the ports under investigation. The result shows that the city’s scale, population, and development have been the main factors for assessing the competitiveness of port cities. The research provides insight about the Chinese cruise port cities’ competitiveness, which is particularly useful for future development decision and marketing strategies of ports and prospective destinations.

The aim of the chapter is to identify the pattern of city–region relations in Polish spatial and economic development. Based on the regression analysis of GDP per capita growth in chosen cities and their regions, conclusions are drawn on: differences in urban development (measured by GDP per capita growth) between cities and their surrounding regions and the direction of the core-periphery mechanism (backwash vs. spread). Findings of the research enabled us to answer the questions of whether urban Poland follows the core-periphery model of development, and to identify the stage of this theoretical approach at which Polish cities might be. For the majority of studies, cities and regions follow the backwash mechanism in their relations with the surrounding regions; however, the trend of this impact differs. Warsaw is a city where the dependence on its region’s resources is decreasing; nevertheless, other findings presented in the chapter allow the statement that Polish cities reach for their region’s resources and the core-periphery mechanism is characterised by the backwash effect. The following chapter fills in the gap in urban competitiveness studies, as they usually concentrate on specific case studies and rarely use larger panels for analysis. Such approach enables us to draw conclusions for the overall urban development patterns in Poland. Also, the issue of growth spread and city–region relations is rarely found in the Polish urban research.

Purpose: Process innovations are becoming increasingly significant in a changing digital society. The goal of this study is to focus on the service industry, particularly on how this sector has lately been influenced by sustainable development and digitalisation. The main focus will be on education. The cohabitation of three aspects (innovation, digitalisation, and sustainability) is declared as a fact in the competitive landscape.

Methodology: This study uses a multi-case approach emphasising the new system of processes in educational institutions in Canada, Ontario. These case studies are relevant to exceptional results consistently produced by various educational institutions.

Findings: The Waterloo region is known as a digitalisation triangle in Canada. Personal experiences and research findings serve as an example of the value of the global digitalised economy as a partnership principle in the educational and entrepreneurship fields.

Significance: The obtained experience and the attempt to share the knowledge and results of this work and research will be useful in future for other academic environments, cities, and countries.

Practical Implications: Cohesion between the purpose of this study and practice is explained as a need to see educational institutions as an important factor of innovation and economic development. In this case, the author shows how this successful case of Ontario, Canada created a stronger base for competitiveness and economic growth.

This chapter focuses on the competitive outcomes of present-day smart cities. It explores how cities can leverage economic and internal advancements to gain a competitive edge over other cities, and attract and retain both internal and external users. In the 21st century, cities engage in a global competition to attract citizens and businesses alike. The attractiveness and competitiveness of cities are directly linked to their ability to offer essential services that support growth opportunities, build economic value, and establish a competitive differentiation. Cities with advanced and innovative environments are more likely to maintain leading positions in an increasingly globalized world. Building upon the previous discussions on urban and economic outcomes, this chapter sheds light on the competitive outcomes of smart cities and the implications of global competition and city attractiveness for internal and external users. This chapter begins by examining the role of marketing innovation and internationalization in driving smart city development and how urban ecosystems and digital technologies can enhance city attractiveness. It emphasizes the importance of being a smart destination for both internal and external users and how it can empower and shape interactions with citizens, talent, companies, and tourists. Additionally, this chapter analyzes the geographical differences in smart city strategies and explores the competitive landscape of smart cities within and across nations. Finally, it discusses the limitations of competitive urbanism, along with the challenges and future prospects of smart city development. This analysis is supported by data and published works from international journals. Overall, this chapter aims to comprehensively understand how cities can leverage smart technology and strategies to enhance their national and global positioning.

Competitiveness of cities forces the city and public sector representatives to invent new methods of management and use the innovative thinking. Success of cities, based on Etzkowitz and Leyedesdorff (2000), has to take into account new strategies of co-operation of the academic institutions with the local authorities, entrepreneurs (in our case in tourism business) and new graduates focused on high-tech industries and start-up businesses. This trend is based on the principles of New Economic Geography (Krugman, 1994; Porter, 1998) and the new Theory of Growth (Romer, 1990), which enforce the importance of knowledge capital and smart technologies. Hjalager (2002) supported the idea of the importance of the institutional innovations and Ward (1998) mentioned that universities and research institutes are key entities to promote smart technologies and decisions in a city (Triple Helix concept). The purpose of the chapter is to discuss the results of research conducted in Waterloo, Canada, Ontario, which belongs to the Ontario Technological Triangle. Waterloo is a city of two universities, Waterloo University and Wilfred Laurier University. The purpose of the chapter is to discuss the results of research conducted in Waterloo, Canada, Ontario, which was focused on the competitiveness growth through the implementation of the smart management systems (Triple Helix Model) in the city marketing and governance. Some of these approaches influenced also tourism business due to multiplication effect and the growing competitiveness is a source of a continual growth of students, visitors and entrepreneurs to the city and the region.

This chapter examines the impact of smart city projects on the economic and business environment, with a specific focus on their potential to foster innovation and entrepreneurship. It highlights how smart cities create an enabling environment for new businesses, start-ups, and promotes gender and green entrepreneurship, while enhancing urban properties and contributing to the overall entrepreneurial ecosystem. The exponential growth of smart city projects worldwide has underscored the critical relationship between smart cities and the entrepreneurial ecosystem for city prosperity and competitiveness. This chapter explores the interplay between smart cities and the economic environment, emphasizing their role as hubs for innovation and business creation. It analyzes the influence of smart city ecosystems and economic factors on local growth and economic outcomes, drawing on international research and factual data. This chapter evaluates the economic outcomes of smart cities, including their impact on the economic environment, business creation, start-ups, innovative and green companies, as well as gender entrepreneurship. This chapter emphasizes the significance of smart city implementation in driving economic advancements within both the urban and economic landscapes. Finally, this chapter concludes by presenting a conceptual framework that synthesizes the insights gained, providing a comprehensive understanding of the economic impact of smart cities and offering a roadmap for further exploration of this topic.

This chapter explores the evolution of smart city thinking in order to have a clear understanding of what is involved in effectively and sustainably implementing a Smart City 4.0 strategy. The chapter illustrates that the concept of smart cities has evolved from the technology driven implementations to Cities as Open Innovation Platforms. These open and participatory platforms facilitate the interaction and collaboration of the city's citizens, government, industry, entrepreneurs, academia, creatives and the social sector so that they can harness their collective intelligence for innovation, experimentation and implementation of solutions that creates real transformational value for the betterment of the city's and its stakeholders. The author also identifies the key dimensions on which a smart city 4.0 concept must be built upon but highlights that depending on the composition of its stakeholder ecosystem, the City will prioritise different dimensions and so each smart city is unique. The chapter builds upon the experience of implementing a Smart City 4.0 project in Waterford, Ireland. Details of the smart city initiatives implemented are illustrates with examples.

The importance of diversification and innovation in strengthening of global competitiveness has been emphasized in both tourism and local development literature. The aim of this chapter is to define the factors (company type, company size, intra-industry investments, collaboration with other companies, and associations) that influence the product- and service-diversification of hotels. This chapter addresses the diversification and innovation strategies of hotels, not only in the light of tourism literature, but also of local development literature, and it provides empirical evidence based on a company-level survey. The findings of the study show that company type, company size, sector-specific knowledge (intra-industry investments and experience of hotel workers), and collaboration with other companies and institutions matter for product- and service-diversification of hotels.

Cities are the place where people spend the great majority of their daily time. Many cities face a variety of social issues such as: high unemployment, increasing crime rate, migration flows, shifts in types of social interactions and lifestyle. These examples represent only a few of the issues encountered. Increasing the number of cultural offerings of a city may help improve the population's general sense of well-being as well as to increase its attractiveness for investments. However, the topic is delicate, and culture is an asset that must be treated carefully. Hence, enhancing culture as a positive asset to be cultivated may seem to be the perfect solution to overcome these issues. Often, a city's government will assume that enhancing and supporting cultural and creative industries will provide a solution to urban socio-economic crises and the stress of the urban fabric without effectively considering their own particular historical-geographical and socio-political conditions. Sometimes cultural heritage is exploited without giving due consideration to the creative sources of value generation in the city. Thus, this may lead to side effects such as the general risk of attracting socially and economically unsustainable mass tourism; the risk related to the possibility of being trapped by city's own cultural heritage and history acting as obstacles against any possible innovations; the risk of gentrification with a consequential loss of important traditions and social relationships characterising the urban areas.