Challenges of Collaborative Innovation in the Public Sector : Empirical Findings from the Private Sector Perspective

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to increase knowledge of challenges of collaborative innovation in the public sector from the private sector perspective. Collaborative innovation in the public sector refers to opening the innovation process up to multiple actors such as private companies, third sector organizations, citizens, universities and research institutions instead of keeping it within the boundaries of a particular governmental organization. The knowledge of collaborative innovation in the public sector is scarce so far. Empirical knowledge of the challenges from the private sector perspective is scarce in particular. The present study addresses this knowledge gap. It is based on empirical material collected from 20 private sector informants involved in collaborative innovation in the public sector. As the result, this paper identifies several challenges of collaborative innovation in the public sector and describes them. The results of this study have a practical implications especially to urban policy makers and developers, companies and third sector organization collaborating with cities, as well as educators in the field of innovation and urban development. The findings have also a significant relevance to universities since they are widely involved in collaborative innovation in the public sector, and often they initiate and coordinate such collaboration. This paper first reviews the literature of the nature of innovation in the public sector, the special characteristics of public sector, and collaborative innovation in the public sector. Next, it explains the empirical method. Then, it describes the empirical findings on challenges of the collaborative innovation in the public sector, from the private sector perspective. After that, it draws the final conclusions.