Public procurement and innovation: Theory and practice

Abstract

This chapter provides a preliminary framework for understanding innovation-oriented public-procurement policy. The first part will give a short overview of how innovation-oriented public procurement is defined in the literature and summarizes today’s main theoretical debates. In the second part, by distilling from international policy practices, past and present, and theoretical debates, four different policy modes in which innovation-oriented public procurement can be applied are presented: innovation-oriented public procurement as technology- and industry-development policy, as R&D policy, as generic policy and as “no policy” policy. Using these four policy modes as a starting point helps to explore the evolution and development of innovation-relevant public-procurement policies in different country settings and in wider institutional contexts.