The digitalized ‘innovation lab’: valorizing the museum outside the museum

Today museums are called to be innovation laboratories. Although value co-creation within museums is framed in the broader tangle of interactions concerning the destination, digitalization management has so far been studied almost exclusively with reference to visit experience. Furthermore, the managers’ point of view has been rather neglected despite their significant role in designing and shaping experiences. By providing a more holistic analysis, this study tries to fill these gaps and move a step forward. The research seeks to understand how digitalization strategy can succeed in fostering and coordinating multiple interactions that occur in the various museum-mediated ‘experience-environments’. The findings highlight the possibility of identifying a greater number of value-creation opportunities. In reference to recent changes in social and tourism dynamics, digitalization can no longer exclusively concern museum contents but, if appropriately managed, becomes a tool for connecting with the outside stakeholders and exploiting the potential present in the destination.