Programme for Innovation Procurement (PIP)

Often, the public sector is overlooked for its innovative potential largely because they are fulfilling a societal function using public resources. In this sense, they must provide a service given a limited a budget which hampers their ability to invest into innovating and/or improving their services. This creates a “market failure” where there may be a clear need to improve public services (digitalise government processes, transition public utilities to sustainable sources, etc.), but there is a lack of resources and knowledge to do so. In this sense, the good practice PIP addresses this challenge through innovation procurements, which serves as a catalyst for public authorities to either develop a new innovative service, process, and/or product, or they can purchase an innovative service, process, and/or product to innovative/improve public services. Through innovation procurements, PIP is enabling public authorities to address long-term goals (green transition, digitalisation, etc.) and acquire the tools and knowledge necessary to improve public services.