Contracting for innovation in public services : Capabilities, institutions and intermediation

Selviaridis, Kostas and Spring, Martin (2019) Contracting for innovation in public services : Capabilities, institutions and intermediation. In: 28th IPSERA Annual Conference, 2019-04-14 - 2019-04-17, Politecnico di Milano.

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Abstract

This paper investigates how innovation intermediaries support UK public buying organisations and suppliers to contract for innovation. We find that intermediaries fill gaps in indirect capabilities related to innovation procurement and adoption by contributing expert knowledge, brokering connections and facilitating cooperation. Intermediaries also leverage their institutional capabilities and engage in institutional work to help shape an institutional environment that fosters public sector innovation. However, there is no conclusive evidence as to whether the deployment of intermediaries’ institutional capabilities makes a difference in terms of the scale and rate of innovation procurement and adoption.