Open Innovation and Co-creation in the Public Sector: Understanding the Role of Intermediaries

Part 4: Critical Reflections; International audience; Innovation is a recurring theme in public administration. Governments around the world are always exploring innovation alternatives. However, the way public organizations innovate has evolved in the last few years from “in-house” innovation to open innovation. Although the literature is rich in references to innovation in the private sector, how open innovation processes can become a true and effective tool for governments is still an underexplored topic. The few studies that have tackled it have mainly addressed one main question: how can a successful private sector practice be introduced in public sector organizations? In contrast, this paper aims at making a contribution to the existing literature on open innovation in the public sector by addressing one issue that is key in open innovation processes: the role of intermediaries. Intermediaries are important actors in the open innovation ecosystem as they facilitate activities in all stages of the innovation process and help government agencies to achieve their goals.