Sustainable Tourism Development through Knowledge Transfer

Innovation performance is generally determined by the quality of the national innovation system, represented by a network of public and private sector institutions, whose activities and mutual relations ensure the process of creation, transfer, and use of new knowledge within the country. According to Klimentovska and Karlovarský Rozvojový Institut (2010), innovation is the result of systematic interactions between the individual participants in the national innovation system and their mutual links at regional, national, and supranational levels. An important role in the innovation process is then played not only by institutions of higher education and research organizations, but also by enterprises, their suppliers, and customers. And, last but not least, the process is directly influenced by the quality of the institutions and the environment where the innovation process takes place (ERDF, 2010).