Crowdsourcing ideation campaign: “Your Ideas for Our Time Together in the Salzburg Open-Air Museum”

Museums traditionally know very little about their visitors. This is partly due to the nature of museum visits – purchasing a ticket typically allows for anonymous entry – but also stems from structural and historical reasons. Museums have long focused on collecting, preserving, and transmitting knowledge, while innovation and visitor engagement have often played a secondary role. In most cases, only limited data is collected – such as the number of visitors or their country of origin. Direct interaction is typically confined to the entrance (ticket counter, security) and, in the case of guided tours, during the tour itself.

For open-air museums like the Salzburg Open-Air Museum, the challenge is even greater. The vast grounds, the physical separation of entrance and exit, and limited resources make it difficult to establish meaningful contact with visitors. Traditional methods such as on-site surveys are both logistically complex and cost-intensive. As a result, it has so far been nearly impossible to systematically involve visitors in shaping the future of the museum and its services. 

To address these challenges, Salzburg Open-Air Museum sought assistance from Crowd in Motion to organise a crowdsourcing campaign. The aim was to open up a direct channel to the museum’s audience and to gather fresh, user-driven ideas for enhancing the visitor experience.

Taking these challenges into account, the idea campaign “Your Ideas for Our Time Together in the Salzburg Open-Air Museum” was set up on the open innovation idea platfrom “IdeaSpace”. The areas to which ideas could be submitted were: 1) Amenities during the visit, 2) Amenities before and after the visit, 3) Communication between the museum and the visitor, 4) Visitor services, and 5) Other.

The contest was promoted on different online and offline communication channels. The target groups were regular and potential visitors of the museum, tourists, students, as well as the growing IdeaSpace community of over 2400 members. Out of 114 (!) innovative submissions, 5 ideas were selected by an interdisciplinary 19-headed expert jury in a digital evaluation process comprising three rounds, and one idea was selected by the crowd as community winner. The winning concepts, selected by the expert jury, and the community-voted favourite were honoured in the framework of an “Open Innovation Talk Award and Business Speednetworking” online session on July 2, 2025. 

The winning ideas were: 

• 1st place: Orchard Discovery Trail – MichaelS

• 2nd place: Open Air Escape Room – selinbilgun

• 3rd place: Ancient Skills – New Talents – Elke

• 4th place: Salzburg Memory Treasure – Klaus Bernkopf

• 5th place: Collaborations with “New Media” – Leo Fürst

• Community Winner Idea: The Creators Lab at the Salzburg Open-Air Museum – Christina Steinböck

To develop concrete next steps, an implementation workshop will follow. To finance the implementation, the client is trained on crowdfunding by the EDIH partner ISN (service nr. 39).

Impulse for Innovation

The idea competition served as a powerful catalyst for innovation at the Salzburg Open-Air Museum. With 114 idea submissions – the vast majority with a digital component – it sparked internal discussions about how analog and digital approaches can be reimagined to enhance the visitor experience and modernize museum services. 

The competition also encouraged the staff to think outside the box and be more open to new ideas. It helped overcome internal resistance to certain concepts that had previously been discussed, as these ideas were now reinforced through external input.

Strengthening Digital Competencies

Through the planning and implementation of the online campaign, museum staff gained valuable experience in digital engagement strategies. The project provided hands-on training in methods for connecting with guests both online and on-site – strengthening the museum team’s confidence in using hybrid tools and participatory methods.

Driving Digital Transformation

Many of the submitted ideas proposed digitally supported formats – from interactive tools to new communication channels. This not only provided inspiration for future services but also laid the groundwork for the museum to expand its use of digital technologies in visitor interaction and operational development.

Enhanced Visibility and Reputation

The open, participatory format of the campaign attracted attention from both the public and the professional community. Therefore, the museum increased its visibility, strengthened its image as an innovative and inclusive cultural institution, and positioned itself as a pioneer in community-driven development in the museum sector.