City governments spend $6 trillion annually buying goods and services from private sector suppliers, amounting to 8% of world GDP in 2021. These delivery contracts represent a huge commercial opportunity for suppliers, but also a policy tool for local authorities to shape markets and steer private sector research and development towards priority policy goals ' from environmentally sustainable mobility, improvements in public health, safe and affordable housing, to resilient infrastructure. But in many countries, public procurement is widely perceived to be a barrier to innovation and improvement, a necessary evil to be navigated with caution. There is some truth to this perception. The UK government's national Innovation Strategy (2021) notes that public procurement culture is characterized by 'a low appetite for risk and experimentation' due to 'the overall culture, expertise and incentive structure of the public sector'. Consequently, many entrepreneurial suppliers simply do not...
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