Public sector innovation—From theory to measurement

While there is growing awareness that much innovation currently takes place in the public sector, it is also recognised that more systematic efforts to promote innovation are needed to address the economic and societal challenges that public sectors face. However, there is a lack of a common understanding of what public sector innovation is and a lack of a measurement framework that can shed light on innovation processes in public sector organisations. Based on insights generated in a recent Nordic pilot study, this paper seeks to contribute to fill this gap. The paper discusses how public sector innovation can be captured and to what extent measurement can be based on frameworks originally developed in a private sector context. While there are important differences between the public and the private sector that should be reflected in a measurement framework, there is also considerable common ground that can be drawn upon.