In practice, using procurement to support innovation is often difficult. In sectors such as healthcare and defence, buyers face strong pressure to reduce costs, work within established frameworks and avoid risk. These conditions can make it hard to introduce new technologies, even where there is clear potential to improve services through tools such as artificial intelligence, robotics or advanced manufacturing.

This research explores the role of innovation intermediaries and the practical value they bring. Drawing on examples from the defence sector and the NHS Health Innovation Network, it shows how intermediaries help public buyers and suppliers work together more effectively. They create space to define problems clearly, test ideas early and support the move from promising concepts to real world use.

Intermediaries help address challenges on both sides of the market. They support research and development activity, run demonstrations and evaluations, and help build the technical and commercial evidence that buyers need to make informed decisions. They also assist with shaping specifications, mentoring teams and navigating unfamiliar processes. In doing so, they help loosen rigid rules and norms that can slow progress, and promote more flexible approaches to contracting and delivery.

By building shared understanding and trusted evidence, intermediaries help reduce risk, sharpen requirements and speed up decision making. This can lead to faster adoption of new solutions, better value for money and improved public services. At the same time, intermediaries often operate with limited authority and resources. The findings point to the need for stronger policy support, and for public bodies to build their own capability to work with intermediaries in a more confident and effective way.

Key findings

• Innovation intermediaries close critical capability gaps by creating shared research and development spaces, producing evidence that informs specifications and tenders, and supporting buyers and suppliers to develop solutions together.
• They help overcome institutional and cultural barriers by working across sectors, mentoring stakeholders, encouraging more flexible contracting approaches, and finding practical ways through rigid procurement processes such as framework agreements.
• They contribute to stronger procurement outcomes, including quicker decisions, clearer requirements, faster adoption of innovation, and reduced or avoided costs, although their impact is limited by constraints on authority and resources.

Place-based Public Procurement for a Low- Carbon Future: Regional Economic Impacts of Retrofitting

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