Innovative Valuing of the Cultural Heritage Assets. Economic Implication on Local Employability, Small Entrepreneurship Development and Social Inclusion

Local development based on innovative entrepreneurship forms represents one of the niche opportunities for economic recovery. This approach is more adequate for a new EU member state with lower level of economic development and an unequal valuing of local potential for growth, like Romania. Local development in generally less developed areas is facing the challenge of being innovative, promoting a business model based on cooperation between stakeholders and public-private partnership. Digital technologies and social media are having a big impact, with a wide variety of economic, social and cultural activities. The old model of cultural consumption is no longer attractive as we have many possibilities for getting information about heritage assets without on-site visit. Therefore, there is a new and increasing segment of demand for cultural consumption–for active persons willing to get information, knowledge and to interact emotional and cognitive with visited places. In digital era, young people have the best expertise to explore the online world and to come with new and successful business ideas, to support new consumption with ITC devices. Therefore, the present challenge is to create incentives for participatory on-site cultural consumption as recreational learning, based on new cognitive content, on innovative comparison or association of the old and new information about heritage assets. Based on human cognitive architecture, the authors developed a qualitative research on supply-side of the cultural heritage innovative products by empower the consumption model based on participation and increasing cognitive-emotional accessibility. The main results of the survey, conducted in cultural areas from seven SEE countries, were analysed from the perspective of local integrated business development based on specific employment and entrepreneurship profile.