Science and industry: Sharing knowledge for innovation

•Scientists and tourism practitioners share tacit and explicit knowledge in practice.•Knowledge for innovation is co-created with stakeholders external to the firm.•Deliberate reflection is a key activity in stimulating company innovation.•Flows of knowledge are intimately linked to social capital.•Social capital is developed through intensive and frequent shared practice.

This paper contributes to a better understanding of the absorption of scientific knowledge in tourism innovation processes. Based on a synthesis of the literature and empirical study we present the model of Innovation through Co-creation. The cases of researchers working together with three whale-watching firms have allowed us to illustrate examples of co-creation, knowledge sharing and reflexivity during tourism firms’ innovation processes. Intensive interaction of the tourism industry with researchers pays off in terms of innovation because flows of knowledge are intimately linked to social capital developed through intensive and frequent shared practice. Besides the theoretical implications of our model, we contribute to the field by providing practical implications for how tourism firms can organize their learning and innovation processes.