Public-private innovation networks in services (ServPPINs) are not like other innovation networks (INs): what lessons for theory and public policy?

The concept of innovation network (IN) is a well-established one that has been the object of an extensive theoretical and empirical literature. Our subject in this paper is a particular kind of innovation network, as yet relatively unknown but which is developing against the background of economies dominated by service industries; we term them public-private innovation networks in services (ServPPINs). Such networks involve collaborations between public and private service organisations in the field of innovation. They differ from traditional INs in several ways. Firstly, the relations between the public actors and the private actors lie at the heart of the analysis. Secondly, service providers are the main actors in them. Finally, non-technological innovation (service innovation), which is often overlooked in the literature, is taken into account. This paper has a twofold purpose, in that it seeks to be both theoretical and operational. Its first objective is to examine the way in which the characteristics of ServPPINs can help to modify and enhance the traditional concept of IN, its second to draw any possible lessons there might be for public policy. The paper is based on both a literature survey and analysis of a database of ServPPINs case studies compiled in the course of the ServPPIN (Public Private Innovation Networks in Services) European project.