Innovation and public procurement: from fragmentation to synthesis on concepts, rationales and approaches

Abstract

Public sector procurement is increasingly seen as an important instrument for inducing innovation in the private sector. Yet, a broad range of different concepts, each with their own associated rationales, and approaches, are used in literature and practice to describe the stimulation of innovation through public procurement. Due to a lack of an overview on the use of concepts, rationales and approaches to stimulate innovation through public procurement in literature and practice, it remains difficult for public organisations to decide why, how, and to what extent they will stimulate innovation in the private sector through public procurement. The contributions of this article to mitigate this problem are threefold. First, it provides a review of the different streams of literature, dichotomies and typologies on public procurement with respect to inducing innovation. Second, it discusses various approaches to stimulate innovation through public procurement individually and compares them in a structured overview. Finally, it provides guidance on the suitability of the use of these approaches in different situations.

The application and deployment of welfare technology in Swedish municipal care: a qualitative study of procurement practices among municipal actors

“…Public procurement has been recognised as an important instrument in innovation policy [ 18 , 36 , 37 ]. Procurement is a process whereby authorities and other public actors purchase goods, services, and public works for the purpose of innovating and diffusing new technologies.…”

The Implementation of Welfare Technology in Municipal Care: A Qualitative Study of Procurement Practices in Sweden

“…Public procurement has been recognised as an important instrument of innovation policy [23,33,48]. Procurement is a process where authorities and other public actors purchase goods, services, and public works for the purpose of innovation and diffusion of new technologies.…”

Environmentally Responsible Behavior and Sustainability Policy Adoption in Green Public Procurement

“…Expanding economic development can result in compromises between economic growth and environmental deterioration, but business model innovation may be instrumental by reprioritizing value creation and capture in the direction of less greenly detrimental undertakings, constituting a pivotal mechanism in the implementation of sustainable development [32]. Public sector procurement constitutes a relevant tool for stimulating innovation in the private sphere, harnessing it either as an external policy mechanism to further the competitiveness of companies in particular industries and revitalizing economic growth, or as a catalyst that participates in internal organizational objectives of the procurement entity or deal with certain demands or societal challenges [33]. Innovative public procurement can develop in various configurations, from the procurement of an extremely enhanced item or, alternatively, to a product-service system or a synergistic one [34].…”