Public procurement for innovation: firm-level evidence from Italy and Norway

Controlling for factors affecting the participation in the procurement market, this article attempts to identify the main determinants of firms’ propensity to undertake innovative activities as part of public procurement contracts. The empirical analysis is carried out by using micro-data from two Community Innovation Surveys for Italian and Norwegian firms. We find that small- and medium-sized firms, as opposed to larger companies, have a lower capability to enter into the procurement market; however, once they succeed, they are equally capable of offering innovative solutions to public buyers. Another major result regards firms’ cooperation with universities and public research institutes, which seems to play a key role in order to facilitate firms’ involvement in public procurement for innovation. Although there are some differences in the estimated coefficients of explanatory variables, these results are consistent between Italy and Norway.