Public Procurement and Innovation

Book excerpt: Max Rolfstam examines the increasing emphasis on public procurement as a means to stimulate innovation and the theoretical implications of this policy development. While regular public procurement may be regarded as the outcome of anonymous market processes, public procurement of innovation must be understood as a special case of innovation, where social processes, and consequently the institutions governing these social processes, need to be considered. This book contributes to our understanding with a detailed institutional analysis of the public procurement of innovation. The author draws on an institutional framework that underscores the importance of conducting a multilevel institutional analysis. Unlike earlier studies that reduced public procurement challenges to a legal issue, this book offers insights of more holistic nature. Academics, students and researchers with an interest in innovation policy will find this book to be an informative and fascinating read. It will also provide an invaluable reference tool on how public procurement can be used as an innovation policy tool for policymakers at both national and EU levels.