Public sector face major challenges in the future. Increased innovativeness is seen as a necessity for public organizations to meet the challenges. By public demand for innovation in the form of public procurement of innovation (PPI), businesses are encouraged to develop new services that better meet the needs for innovation in the public sector. PPI is therefore considered to have great potential to modernize the public sector while stimulating innovation in both the public and the private sector.

Despite the great potential the share of PPI of the total number of procurements increase slowly. A great obstacle is that it is perceived as cumbersome and resource-intensive, which prevents smaller municipalities with limited resources.

Project partners Ystad, Trelleborg & Skurup are facing similar challenges in, school, digitalization and circular economy, which requires new innovative solutions to meet residents’ expectations. The municipalities therefore need to develop methods to stimulate innovation.

The overall objective of the project is that small and medium-sized municipalities in southern Scania merge and develop a resource efficient and innovative model for working with PPI that is adjusted to local conditions, so that also mutual learning and synergies can be achieved through collaboration. The model is being tested in two PPI´s conducted by participating municipalities. If the test results are positive, there is a great potential both to integrate the model into a municipal innovation strategy and to spread it to other public procurers.

Rhetikfabriken act as over all project manager