Anna Burton Receives DGT-ITB Science Award 2025

This year, the DGT-ITB Science Award was presented for the 31st time. The high-ranking jury of professors and scientists from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland evaluated submitted works and awarded prizes in three categories: best junior work (Bachelor thesis level), best junior work (Master thesis level), and best dissertation.

Burton's dissertation aims to develop a more holistic understanding of what contributes to innovations in tourism and hospitality. The overarching research question examined in her dissertation is: "What factors impact innovation in tourism and hospitality at a destination and organisation level?".

The preamble introduces the concept of innovation in tourism and hospitality, highlights the importance of examining the topic at various levels, and underscores the significance of the presented study. At the destination level, the dissertation examines how the orchestration of networks and joint dynamic capabilities can impact sustainable innovations (Study 1), and it assesses which factors drive or hinder social innovations in destinations (Study 2). At the organisational level, it investigates the impact of micro-foundations on the development of dynamic capabilities and innovations in hospitality businesses (Study 3), and addresses the challenges of measuring innovations in hospitality by proposing an adapted measurement instrument (Study 4).

Anna Burton is an economist and has been working in the Research Group "Regional Economics and Spatial Analysis" at WIFO since 2020. Her research focuses on issues related to tourism and leisure economics, in particular the analysis of economic policy measures in a regional context and regional development, as well as national and international impact analyses. Anna Burton also teaches subjects in macroeconomics at the University of Vienna and the University of Applied Sciences BFI Vienna. She completed her master's degree at Columbia University in New York and conducted research on sustainable innovation and regional resilience in tourism as part of her PhD studies at Modul University Vienna. Prior, she gained experience as a research associate at the Institute for Business Ethics and Sustainable Strategy (IBES) at the University of Applied Sciences WKW Vienna and analyst in the private sector.