7 Tips for Delivering Innovation in Local Government
Challenges in local government innovation
- 1. Outdated systems: Local government systems need modernisation to become more resilient and capable of adopting new technologies. While exploring shared services and joint procurement can lead to economies of scale and better resource utilisation, it was generally felt that it was questionable as to how successful shared services have been to date.
- 2. Financial constraints: Severe budget limitations hinder local governments’ ability to innovate and effectively serve citizens. Additionally, local governments struggle to attract and retain skilled personnel, often losing out to the private sector for top talent.
- 3. Data management: It was agreed that good data would be at the heart of any future innovation of local government services and here again Local Authorities are really struggling as data-sharing practices are often inefficient and, in many cases, manual. Establishing proper data standards and achieving seamless data sharing across local authorities are critical to overcoming this challenge.
- 4. Leadership and culture: Leadership is key to driving change. Local government leaders must foster a culture that embraces experimentation and accepts failure as part of the innovation process. This shift is necessary to move away from cost-based decision-making and towards value-driven procurement.
7 tips for digital leaders in local government
- 1. Know when you’re wrong: Recognise when a strategy isn’t working and be willing to pivot. For example, when Transport for London (TfL) realised that withholding data was counterproductive, they opened it up, leading to innovative uses by third parties.
- 2. Avoid hype: Stay critical of new technologies and solutions. Evaluate them against your existing needs to determine if they genuinely offer new and beneficial capabilities.
- 3. Foster a culture of experimentation: Encourage your team to try new things and view failure as a learning opportunity and part of the innovation process. This approach can lead to breakthroughs that wouldn’t occur in a risk-averse environment.
- 4. Emphasise transparency: Make procurement processes transparent and collaborative. This builds trust and attracts more innovative solutions from the market. The work of LOTI in London and CivTech in Scotland are excellent examples of what can be achieved.
- 5. Think beyond borders: Work towards seamless data sharing across local government boundaries. Residents and businesses expect consistent services, which can only be achieved through better data interoperability.
- 6. Invest in upskilling: Ensure your team has the skills needed to compete with the private sector. This may involve investing in training and development programs.
- 7. Standardise where possible: While customisation may sometimes be necessary, standardisation across local government can lead to efficiencies and cost savings. Find the right balance for your organisation.
Smart procurement is key to support Government growth plans
Britain is set to enter an exciting period for public services. Not only did last week’s King’s Speech set out 39 new Bills – several of which will have profound implications for investment in our towns, cities and for transport – but the new Procurement Act, which comes into effect this autumn, equips public sector managers to turn their everyday spending into fuel for innovation.
The UK public sector already spends more than £380bn with the private sector annually. The way that these public contracts are brought to market has the power to generate new ideas and ways of working which improve operational productivity, service outcomes and other policy priorities like the net zero transition.
Far from being a barrier to innovation, procurement is a lever to boost the delivery of the Government’s ambitious programme for growth and transformation.
Opportunities to inspire and integrate new solutions through smarter spending abound across the Government’s programme. New public agencies like Great British Railways, Great British Energy and the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority will be huge customers of goods and services, with power to shape markets.
They should each be ambitious in using their significant purchasing powers to inspire and integrate innovative products or solutions into the delivery and operations of infrastructure. Firms which engage these public bodies in solving the challenges of UK infrastructure by trialling and solving will be well placed to export their services overseas, generating wealth for UK Plc.
Not all the opportunities are in central Government and its agencies, however. Local authorities are also already major buyers of goods and services and have a strong track record in harnessing procurement to stimulate innovation in local services. Here are some examples:
- Transport for London rapidly tested nine potential suppliers using a flexible process to identify suppliers with credible solutions to reducing adverse economic impact of roadworks. Two companies emerged from the process with commercial contracts.
- Liverpool City Council used procurement to identify and introduce a new household waste collection service which saw recycling rise by 270%, reduced the cost of collection by 57% and reduced the service’s carbon footprint by 60%.
- Belfast City Council (with help from Connected Places Catapult) identified and validated a new supplier to maximise the collection of business rates, resulting in more than £1 million in annual revenues for the city.
- We are seeing many regions from Sunderland, Dorset to Glasgow using procurement as a strategic lever to bring in innovative solutions
With further devolution of powers and resources promised, all local and combined authorities should be integrating innovation-focused early market engagement mechanisms into their delivery plans which mobilise suppliers to come up with solutions to priority challenges.
Tackling the cultural barrier which limits the potential benefits of public procurement should be a priority for the new Government. A recent survey showed that only 43% of public sector workers were somewhat aware of procurement practices designed to foster innovation, while a similar number only (46%) believed that procurement can be an enabler of innovation. 10% firmly hold the opposite opinion.
Connected Places Catapult, through its initiative the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC), stands ready to support the new Government’s ambitions, and to help public authorities make the most of their purchasing power.
Since 2019, we have been working with councils and research teams across the UK to raise awareness of the art of the possible in public procurement, challenge risk averse organisational culture, and empower more public authorities to be confident, articulate customers of innovation and realise the benefits.
With public sector funding under pressure, how we spend public money is more important than ever. Embracing procurement as a tool for generating new solutions can transform existing funds into fuel for innovation; to drive better, cheaper and quicker outcomes, operational productivity and policy goals such as net zero.
Putting the right procurement practices in place means bringing more innovation forward from the market, co-developing creative solutions, and using data to make intelligent decisions.
More flexible and open procedures challenge monopolies and create opportunities for new entrants to deliver disruptive solutions. Of 235 large contracts recorded on Find a Tender between January 2021 and January 2023, 20% of contracts using open competition received only one bid. Through IPEC we are determined to equip the public sector to be a more intelligent client, with more inclusive and intentional procurement practices which provide better access for providers with creative solutions, delivering in turn better outcomes for service users and better value for money for taxpayers.
Driving the agenda forwards
The availability and quality of data available to suppliers about the performance and cost of existing services is also a barrier to innovation, as is the general lack of information about pipelines of future opportunities which help suppliers to plan. Good quality information about future commercial opportunities helps suppliers to invest with confidence in developing novel solutions, while data on the performance of existing delivery helps prospective suppliers to benchmark their offerings and identify opportunities to compete.
Improvements to data transparency are included in the Procurement Act. We strongly encourage the new Government to explore ways to accelerate and extend data transparency across the public sector, thus equipping suppliers with the information they require to compete for contracts of today and to invest in solving the challenges of tomorrow.
The new administration has already made strides towards this transparency with its clear commitment to be a mission-led Government. This approach aligns well with Connected Places Catapult’s own championing of outcome, or challenge-based procurement. When engaging the market, the public sector has a tendency to prescribe how they want a contract delivered, rather than what outcome the contract is designed to achieve.
Being more outcome focused creates space for a wider range of suppliers to engage in the opportunity – including those who may never have responded to a public tender before. A flexible process then allows for validation and sifting of solutions before the final contract is awarded. Mission-led Government must be accompanied by an equal commitment to outcomes in procurement practices.
Connected Places Catapult is ready and eager to work with more senior leaders from the public sector and industry to accelerate the development and adoption of innovation in the delivery of the Government’s ambitious programme. We have the capability and experience needed to drive change, and a fast-growing community of allies.
We are keen to connect with public sector professionals who are having difficulties with navigating procurement to introduce new solutions, so we can help to unblock the problem.
Equally we want to hear about successes too, so we can amplify them to a wider audience and inspire others. Please do get in touch at ipec@cp.catapult.org.uk.
Sam Markey is Director of Place Leadership at Connected Places Catapult, and Rikesh Shah is Head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre.
Join the IPEC network.
Read: Sparking Innovation Through the Market: A Review of Pioneering Practice
Listen to Rikesh Shah discuss the future of innovation procurement on the most recent Connected Places podcast.
In-Conversation with Daniel Clarke
This week, we had the privilege of interviewing Daniel Clarke, Head of Innovation and Technology at Greater Cambridge Partnership, delving into topics on innovation, procurement, and how these strategies are applied in Cambridge.
What is a Greater Cambridge Partnership, what is your role in it, and what challenges is it trying to address?
The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) is a collaboration between local councils, businesses, and academia in the Greater Cambridge area. The GCP aims to improve transport infrastructure, support economic growth, and enhance quality of life. I am part of the team which is delivering the City Deal for the area – set up to ensure that infrastructure needed to deliver the 33,500 houses set out in the current local plan, supporting 44,000 new jobs.
Congestion is one of the biggest issues facing us along with infrastructure constraints. Significant investment is being made to improve the transport system, such as building new cycle and busways as well as new travel hubs.
I am the Head of Innovation and technology and lead the Smart Cambridge Programme, exploring how data and emerging technology can make a difference to the wider programme. We pilot and trial new technologies and have taken innovation out of this stage and scaled across the area.
Can you tell us more about the Smart Cambridge Programme and how you developed and scaled it to address city challenges?
The focus of the Smart Programme has primarily been on deploying technologies that support the transport programme – helping people to get around Greater Cambridge. To do this we have built collaborative partnerships across the public and private sector.
We encourage companies to use Cambridge as a test-bed for new technologies that align with the problems we are trying to solve. A good example of this is VivaCity who trialled their first smart traffic monitoring sensors in Cambridge on our existing infrastructure. Having seen how the technology performed we have worked with them on several pieces of work. We then wanted to scale these across the city and to allow partners to easily buy sensors to add into the network and to share data. We did this through open-market procurement that would purchase the core network and developed a framework to allow the network to grow. The success is evident as we now have a network of 96 sensors. On the back of this network, we recently completed a trial of the VivaCity smart signals product.
The data from the network is integral to the wider GCP programme supporting business case development and the monitoring and evaluation of big schemes to understand the impact on local communities.
We also partner with companies on funding bids and are currently the lead partner in Connector – an autonomous bus pilot which will allow us to explore how this technology can support our ambitions to expand the public transport system. Funding bids often bring procurement challenges, particularly if the funding is allocated to the Local Authority. Generally to develop bids, we need to work with partners, often we need to procure these partners post-bid so are unable to name them in the bid document and any procurement once the grant has been secured comes at risk, as the original partner may not be successful.
We work collaboratively with academia to access cutting-edge research.
Working closely with the University of Cambridge we have built a data platform for the processing of real time data, and travel screens which have been deployed as a research project. We have also been involved in some early-stage digital twin work. At the beginning, this work tends to be unfunded or is funded through academic grants. The issue is when we want to scale the work up and invest GCP funds, procurement tends to be a barrier.
How have you used procurement to support Innovation?
We have used procurement to drive innovation. In the early days of the programme, we procured a start up to build a multi-modal, multi-operator app that had a number of innovative features. We specifically designed the procurement to support innovation in the market. Instead of specifying the exact functionality of the journey planner, we focussed on desired outcomes and made sure that the procurement was accessible for star- ups by amending our contractual terms and conditions lowering the insurance thresholds and adapting our approach to IP . This approach allowed suppliers the flexibility to propose innovative solutions that meet the end goals.
We are also currently working on a business case for Mobility as a Service and are looking to partner with another local authority who has already deployed this. Integral to these discussions are procurement colleagues who will help us to work through how we procure the solution to scale from one Local Authority area into ours.
How are you supporting Innovation in Cambridge?
We are keen to support innovation and launched our Innovation Prospectus last year, which is a call for collaboration to innovative businesses and academia to come and use Cambridge as a test bed. So, if you have an interesting innovation that can help us to solve some of the city challenges we face do please get in touch. The prospectus can be found here – Innovation Prospectus.
Finally, what have you been able to achieve to date through the Smart Cambridge Programme?
The pilots delivered by the GCP have demonstrated how Innovation has supported our ambitions to support travellers make more sustainable journeys and to keep the road network flowing.
The Vivacity Smart Signals pilot saw an improvement in traffic flows and the ability to prioritise for sustainable modes, the Starling pilot saw a 36% reduction in average pedestrian waiting times, the multi modal travel app had 2000 regular users and the network of Vivacity sensors has significantly improved our ability to develop business cases and evaluate the impact of major infrastructure schemes.
As pilots are scaled into business as usual deployments we anticipate that we will see significant benefits for local communities, supporting greater integration in the transport system, supporting more sustainable journeys and improving quality of life for residents.
Current Sentiment in the Procurement World
Growing Awareness but Limited Understanding
The Role of IPEC
Barriers to Innovation
Embedding Innovation
Benefits Realised
Key takeaways
In-Conversation with Colin Wood
We are thrilled to introduce our second “In-Conversation With” interview in the series! The initiative aims to celebrate transformational leaders across UK local authorities by sharing their expertise, success stories, and advice on implementing innovative procurement practices.
This week, we had the privilege of interviewing Colin Wood, Innovation Lead at Dorset Council, delving into topics on innovation, procurement, and how these strategies are applied in Dorset.
What is your role at Dorset Council, and what does a typical day look like for you?
I’m currently Innovation Lead. I work with others to position Dorset Council as an open, confident, forward-looking place where innovation can flourish. It’s all about maximising government and industry investment for the benefit of our people and communities.
What are the strategic goals of Dorset Council in the area of innovation?
I’m currently Innovation Lead. I work with others to position Dorset Council as an open, confident, forward-looking place where innovation can flourish. It’s all about maximising government and industry investment for the benefit of our people and communities.
We believe digital innovation presents opportunities to transform local public services plus become a real driver of our economy.
Rural Dorset is incredibly beautiful which makes it a popular holiday destination. But a tourism-based economy with seasonal, low skilled and often part time jobs is always going to be fragile.
The council’s economic strategies focus on fostering innovative sectors such as marine, agritech, defence and security that typically offer year round, higher value, skilled employment and clean growth. Interesting jobs like these provide our young people with opportunities if they want to stay local and brings in talent from elsewhere.
Building a place with an ecosystem renowned for providing innovative solutions to many of the nation’s grand challenges helps attract inward investment from government and industry. The council’s role is to provide places and spaces such as the Defence BattleLab where collaboration, co-creation and innovation can thrive.
Building an area with a reputation as a forward-looking centre of innovation can help us tell a different story about rural Dorset – a place where you can enjoy brilliant quality of life and a job that makes a real difference for the UK.
The wider social benefits of this new economy include increased social mobility, money recirculating through local supply chains, upskilling of workforces and reductions in carbon emissions.
There are also opportunities for innovation partners to support the council in meeting future challenges, whether that’s different ways to deliver social care or meeting its net zero targets.
Could you tell us about the 5G RuralDorset project, focusing on the value it unlocks for residents and businesses?
5G RuralDorset is where our digital innovation journey started. We set out to understand how next generation connectivity including 5G could help people lead safer and more prosperous lives in rural communities, even in environments as sensitive as our UNESCO-designated world heritage coastline.
The £9 million research and development project focused on themes such as public safety, economic growth, food production and solving environmental challenges. Highlights included the largest ever 5G agri and aquaculture trials, plus the world’s first standalone 700MHz 5G network along Dorset’s Jurassic Coast. This frequency range can cover longer distances over water than higher frequencies, avoiding the need for masts at sensitive locations.
We understand you’ve developed a remarkable tool called the Digital Innovation Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS), aimed at fulfilling Dorset Council’s strategic objectives. Could you provide further details about this tool and the accomplishments it has achieved so far?
Through projects like 5G RuralDorset we have developed relationships with local, national and international partners across public sector, academia, research and industry. The new Digital Innovation Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) is one tool designed to help the council scale and diversify this ecosystem to achieve its strategic aims.
On a day-to-day level the DPS helps us identify organisations looking to work or partner with the council on digital innovation initiatives. We then publish opportunities to work with/supply to the council and its digital innovation partners.
Companies can apply to join the DPS at any time, and we have set the bar deliberately low to help early phase start-ups which can’t afford the time and expense of accessing traditional procurement frameworks.
We had 80 companies apply in the first 30 days and we have just published our first requirement. I hope the DPS can be an agile, open and transparent way to help achieve our innovation objectives.
Could you elaborate on your collaboration with JET? Additionally, why do you place such importance on innovation from start-ups?
JET Connectivity came to us as a single person start up with a fantastic idea to bring wireless connectivity to maritime environments.
Using government funding the council and its partners supported JET to launch the world’s first 5G buoy at sea in Lulworth Cove. Sensors on the buoy relayed real time sea state information to digital safety signs at popular coastal locations.
JET now employs 30 people and is a great example of the innovation we are trying to foster using our assets in Dorset. We see a very bright future for companies like JET in our region as the UK transitions to a cleaner, greener future.
What’s on the horizon in terms of innovation within Dorset Council?
We’re already involved in a couple of very interesting research projects with government and industry.
Our £7m Dorset Open Networks Ecosystem project is carrying out advanced research and development into how cutting-edge technology can transform the roll-out of mobile networks in rural areas. It’s looking at how alternative equipment can provide enhanced performance and power savings while working with a wider range of suppliers could also make the UK’s telecoms networks more secure, competitive and resilient.
And as part of a project called the Rural Connectivity Accelerator we worked with a coalition led by the Satellite Applications Catapult to identify potential pilots to help overcome barriers to mobile connectivity in rural and agricultural areas. We are waiting to see if any of the ideas will be funded and are keeping our fingers crossed for Dorset!
If you could go back in time, and give yourself one piece of advice when you first joined Dorset Council, what would it be?
This is my 24th year with councils in Dorset. Following a career in journalism I took a communications role with a Dorset council back in 2000. One of my first projects was to build the council’s first intranet and public website. People said it would never catch on!
That communications background has helped me over the years. I guess I would tell myself: “Be kind, take people with you and tell everyone what you have done. That story telling is as important as what you actually do.”
If you are interested in showcasing your journeys to innovation through procurement in our in-conversation interviews, please reach out via ipec@cp.catapult.org.uk
Procurement Act Knowledge Hub
This announcement initiates a critical six-month preparation phase, urging contracting authorities and suppliers, including SMEs and VCSEs, to expedite the refinement of their operational processes and engage in requisite training to seamlessly adapt to the forthcoming changes. In support of this preparation effort, IPEC has curated a comprehensive fact sheet with key training opportunities and resources currently available.
E-learning modules
- The Cabinet Office has introduced E-learning modules designed exclusively for procurement practitioners.
- These modules comprehensively cover all aspects of the upcoming reforms, encompassing key regulatory changes, transparency enhancements, and insights into the competitive flexible procedure.
Knowledge drops series
- The Knowledge Drops series presents succinct video overviews explaining the upcoming procurement regulation changes.
- Tailored for diverse audiences, including contracting authorities, suppliers across various sectors, SMEs, and VCSEs, these resources aim to facilitate a nuanced understanding of the evolving landscape.
Art of the possible in public procurement report
- “Art of the Possible in Public Procurement” report – serves as a valuable resource, highlighting the potential of implementing the new Procurement Act, offering practical guidance and real-world case studies of successful innovation procurement.
Communities of practice
- Launching on 8 May 2024, Communities of Practice provide opportunities for procurement professionals to share knowledge, experiences, and insights via MS Teams meet-up events.
- These sessions will cover diverse topics across the procurement lifecycle, fostering confidence in navigating the Procurement Act 2023.
Guidance documents
- Comprehensive Procurement Act 2023 guidance documents, covering topics such as transitional arrangements, pre-market engagement, award rules, and more. Set to be fully released by the Cabinet Office by June 2024.
Stakeholder webinars
- Stakeholder webinars is a series of update webinars, providing a comprehensive update on the Transforming Public Procurement programme. Webinars will cover milestones, learning opportunities, digital platform progress, transition details, and preparation for upcoming changes.
- Three dates are available:
– Wednesday 15 May from 10am to 11am
– Tuesday 21 May from 11.30am to 12.30pm
– Friday 24 May from 2pm to 3pm
For assistance in selecting the most suitable learning options for your team, the Cabinet Office has prepared a Learning and Development brochure outlining all available support.
We trust this factsheet proves helpful in your preparations for the forthcoming Procurement Act changes. For any inquiries or guidance, please feel free to reach out to us at ipec@cp.catapult.org.uk
Encouraging regional leaders to take risks and reap rewards with innovative firms
Public sector leaders spend as much as £300 Billion on third party suppliers every year in the UK. But if just 5% of that money was spent on innovative products and services it could unlock £15 Billion to support some of our most creative companies.
One region exploring how procuring new solutions could unlock value for local businesses and people is the West Midlands, where Connected Places Catapult is leading the DIATOMIC Accelerator, bringing together nine innovative firms with Birmingham City Council.
At a showcase event to promote the programme at the STEAMhouse in Birmingham in April, Principal Place Development Lead, Catherine Hadfield explained: “DIATOMIC is all about digital innovation, and the programme is supporting SMEs in the region with innovative solutions to some of the region’s biggest challenges around housing and waste management.”
Catherine chaired a panel session, and asked those alongside her for their thoughts on how best to create frameworks that allow innovation to thrive.
“For me, it’s about leadership,” replied Rikesh Shah, the Head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre. “It means senior professionals saying to their teams they have permission to experiment with new ideas offered by the market, not to worry if they get something wrong, but to learn – and to have the right guardrails in place.
“We have to take a few more risks and create more of an entrepreneurial environment, rather than playing it safe and not achieving our desired outcomes in the long run.”Rikesh Shah, Head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre at Connected Places Catapult
Rikesh added that the aftermath of Covid showed how it was possible for large firms to be more innovative in their engagement with the market, “but suddenly all this red tape came back, and the problem-solving spirit was lost”.
Alongside him on the panel was Emily Stubbs, the Head of Policy at the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. “Covid proved to be an incredible mass exercise in showing that innovation was possible,” she said. “Small companies have to dedicate a lot of time and resources to tender for public sector contracts, and particularly high value ones. Programmes such as DIATOMIC help provide useful support to help them to navigate the challenges.”
Emily also said it can be very difficult for local businesses to connect with the public sector and interact with large organisations, but that companies who do well often “put themselves out there” and try to start a conversation. “Use the connections you have to identify where the opportunities are,” she advised.
Diversity in focus
Catherine Hadfield – who recently chaired a podcast on inclusive innovation in the West Midlands – asked how leaders in the West Midlands should best reach out to businesses run by women and professionals from minority ethnic backgrounds in order to help address the region’s housing and waste management issues.
“We need to get better at bringing in businesses run by people from diverse backgrounds into public sector supply chains, and we can do that by working better with those organisations that are already offering them advice and support,”suggested Conrad Parke, the Co-ordinator from the Birmingham Anchor Network which supports local businesses and creates employment opportunities for local disadvantaged communities
He added that the new Procurement Act coming later this year promises to help remove barriers to small businesses accessing the public sector supply chain, but commented that there needs to be a collective response from a region to agree on what those barriers to entry are, in order to reduce the amount of red tape they face.
Pia van Antwerpen, Community and Engagement Lead for SuperTech West Midlands – a cluster body for professional services technology and innovation – said the public sector must look to better educate and support founders looking to bid, if wanting to reduce their entry barriers. “The tendering process for accessing public sector projects and opportunities is complex, and in some ways like a game; one where each move requires significant time and resources. With little to no guarantee of winning or even support to ‘learn the ropes’ this something many early-stage entrepreneurs can’t afford to do.”
She added that companies looking to choose the right accelerator programme to work with must identify which business goals they need help with, and whether the mentors and benefits offered are aligned to their success needs. “Don’t just follow those around you,” she noted. “Go to where you need to be”.
Fostering a culture of innovation
Earlier during the showcase, Connected Places Catapult’s Executive Director of SME Development and Academic Engagement, Alex Weedon described the DIATOMIC Accelerator programme as fostering a “culture of innovation” that aims to create demand for new ideas to solve market challenges.
“If we can focus more local authority spend on supporting local supply chains and more specifically innovation, we can make a real difference,” he said.
The DIATOMIC Accelerator is being led by Connected Places Catapult in collaboration with Birmingham City Council, STEAMhouse and the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. It is part of the wider West Midlands Innovation Accelerator, which is designed to bolster the region’s innovation and R&D capability and spark commercial growth and investment.
The West Midlands Innovation Accelerator is delivered in partnership with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, Innovate UK and the West Midlands Combined Authority.
Find out more about the nine SMEs in the first cohort of the DIATOMIC programme.
Listen to Catherine Hadfield chair a panel discussion on the Connected Places Podcast around inclusive innovation in the West Midlands.
IPEC Research Symposium
This brought together academics from leading universities across the UK – Manchester, Birmingham, Bath, Cardiff, Stirling, Nottingham, Oxford, Lancaster – and Autonomous University of Madrid. 30 speakers, researchers and policy leads convened to share evidence and ideas to boost the impact of innovation procurement.
The Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC) is a major initiative of Connected Places Catapult and a key plank of our work is to develop research capacity in this critical area. We have entered a long-term partnership with the Universities of Birmingham City-REDI and the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research (University of Manchester), gathering evidence to build the case for doing procurement differently. It will generate tools for policy development and support public and private sectors in implementing innovation through procurement, driving investment and better outcomes.
The Public Procurement as a Catalyst for Innovation workshop explored the impacts, measurement, and best practices of innovation procurement. Key themes that emerged include:
- The growing importance of evidencing how public procurement can drive innovation and address major challenges, while achieving efficiency and value for money. Academics from the University of Manchester presented research using advanced data analysis techniques like network analysis and AI language models to quantify the impact of innovation procurement on firm productivity and gain insights into complex public sector supply chains.
- The importance of taking a holistic, systems approach to procurement that considers the broader ecosystem of buyers, suppliers, and stakeholders. Research using administrative data from TED and Contract Finder in the UK demonstrated the value of clever data analysis in unlocking insights from existing procurement data sources.
- The potential for innovation procurement to drive positive local economic and social outcomes, such as supporting local businesses, creating jobs, and advancing sustainability goals. Examples included research conducted by researchers at City-REDI (University of Birmingham) on retrofitting social housing and the Catapult’s West Midlands Diatomic project.
- The need for cultural change, capacity building, and sharing of best practices to fully realise the potential of innovation procurement. While the new UK Procurement Act presents opportunities, challenges remain around data quality, skills, and embedding innovation across the commissioning lifecycle.
- The importance of collaborating across academia, government, and industry to build the evidence base for innovation procurement, champion success stories, and co-create practical tools and guidance. IPEC’s “Art of the Possible” report and ongoing research partnerships exemplify this approach.
Participants left energised to build on the momentum and partnerships from the workshop to position public procurement as a key catalyst for innovation and public good. Key next steps include improving data infrastructure, developing case studies and practical guidance, and fostering communities of practice to accelerate learning and adoption of innovation procurement practices.
In-Conversation with Liz St Louis
We are thrilled to introduce a new initiative at IPEC – “In-Conversation With” interviews! The initiative aims to celebrate transformational leaders in various parts of UK local government by sharing their expertise, success journeys, and advice on implementing new practices in innovation procurement.
This week we had the opportunity to interview Liz St-Louis, Director of Smart Cities and Enabling Services at Sunderland City Council, delving into topics about innovation, procurement and how it works for Sunderland.
What is your role at the Sunderland City Council? What does an average day entail?
In the context of this area of work my role is Director of Smart Cities and I manage our Smart City programme and our 20-year joint venture partnership with Boldyn Networks. In a nutshell, I drive forward city-wide investment in next generation digital infrastructure and digital and data solutions that are making a transformational difference across a city landscape.
What are some of the biggest challenges facing the Council?
Demand pressures, specifically with regards Adults and Children’s Social Care and Housing and the challenges this places on overall resources.
We know you have partnered with Boldyn Networks on procurement of innovative solutions. Can you please tell us more about your partnership? How does it help to make Sunderland more innovative? How do you apply procurement here?
We went to market to procure a 20-year strategic Smart City joint venture partner to help us develop our smart city landscape. It’s a contractual joint venture, joint risk/joint reward. We have jointly developed a network of networks and a raft of digital and data solutions that sit on those networks. We have developed a robust supply chain and can provide services to anyone in Sunderland. It is effectively a legal framework where we can procure any network infrastructure or any digital or data solutions that sit on those networks, subject to agreed value for money principles.
Our mechanisms for contracting are all set-out within our underpinning project agreement and we have connectivity services agreements governing all of our buy-back services. It makes us very agile and able to respond very quickly to challenges and opportunities. Bodyn Networks also have an extensive global footprint which means we have a much greater reach which aids innovation.
What’s the value for residents and businesses when thinking about smart cities?
Everything we do within the smart city programme is about delivering economic or social good. It’s about how digital makes Sunderland a great place to live work and play. We also strive hard to ensure we leave no one and nowhere behind on our smart city journey.
Why 5G and IoT is important to Sunderland City Council?
Advanced wireless infrastructure creates so many opportunities in every aspect of life and business. It provides a huge advantage for a city, economically and socially and we want to be at the forefront of that advantage.
What have you been able to achieve in this space to date? Can you please share a few examples?
- Properties now able to access full fibre connectivity has doubled since the start of the programme
- Over 40,000 unique users are now enjoying the free Sunderland wi-fi network each month
- Over 4,500 properties across the city now have assistive technologies enabling elderly and vulnerable people to live safe and well in their own homes
- Our recent social tariff campaign reached over 30,750 residents with many now benefiting from discounted broadband rates
- Our 22 Digital Hubs are now live across the city providing safe and supported access to digital services with over 200 volunteers helping people to go on-line
What in your experience are the biggest challenges for local governments in procuring innovation to solve council challenges? What is your advice?
It can be the pace of public sector procurement and the difficulties experienced, particularly by SME’s in responding to tenders, being accepted on frameworks etc. It is also very much the repetitiveness of the process. That’s why the partnership with Boldyn Networks and the associated procurement framework is so important to us in delivering our smart city ambitions.
What is one advice you would have given yourself if you could nearly 15 years ago when you just joined SCC?
Think carefully about your ambitions, seek innovative ways of how to deliver those ambitions and put the thought and effort in at the beginning to create the right enabling mechanisms to then deliver at pace.
If you are interested in showcasing your journeys to innovation through procurement in our in-conversation interviews, please reach out via ipec@cp.catapult.org.uk
