Intermediation in public procurement of innovation: How Amsterdam’s startup-in-residence programme connects startups to urban challenges

Willem van Winden and Luis Carvalho ()

Research Policy, 2019, vol. 48, issue 9, -

Abstract: This paper analyses Amsterdam’s Startup-in-Residence (SiR) programme as new type of policy to engage startups in the development of urban innovation through a challenge-based public procurement of innovation (PPI) process. The programme is being mimicked by other cities and government agencies, but so far there has not been a rigorous, theoretically-informed analysis of the approach. In this paper, we specify and focus on the role of city-based, public-affiliated intermediaries as initiators, moderators and influencers of conversations between startups and the local government. The main contribution of SiR as a PPI intermediation programme has been to launch new types of fruitful conversations on several levels, that lead to institutional innovations rather than direct solutions for urban problems or startup development. In this sense, SiR fulfils a role inquiring and ascribing urban challenges with values and notions of “worth” that preceded and shaped innovation directions. We also suggest that engaging startups is effective for only a limited bandwidth urban challenges; different types of intermediation are required to foster collaborative innovation in more complex settings.

Keywords: Innovation intermediaries; Public procurement of innovation; Conversations; Smart city; Startups (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 O31 O33 O35 O38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:respol:v:48:y:2019:i:9:35

DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2019.04.013

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