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5. Public procurement and innovation activity

Nearly every third, 31 per cent of the surveyed enterprises reported having had procurement contracts in 2010 to 2012 to provide products to public sector organisations. In manufacturing, one in four enterprises and in services, good one-third of enterprises had procurement contracts.

A majority of enterprises with procurement contracts had contracts with domestic public sector organisations. Only five per cent of enterprises had procurement contracts to produce products for foreign public sector organisations – six per cent in manufacturing and five per cent in services.

In addition to procurement contracts being more commonplace in services than in manufacturing, procurement contracts were also more frequent in large enterprises than in small or medium size enterprises.

Even though nearly one-third of enterprises had procurement contracts, only relatively rarely did enterprises report innovation activity related to the implementation of the contracts. A couple of per cent of all enterprises (eight per cent of enterprises with procurement contracts) undertook innovation activity as part of a procurement contract with innovations being required in the contract. Five per cent of enterprises (16 per cent of those with contracts) reported innovation activity related to the implementation of procurement contracts, although innovation was not required as part of the contract.

Figure 15. Public sector procurement and innovation activity 2010–2012, share of enterprises

Procurement contracts were reported most commonly in information services activities, architectural and engineering activities, and technical testing and analysis. In these industries, good one-tenth of all enterprises (approximately one-fifth of enterprises with contracts) reported innovation activity related to procurement contracts, even if innovation was not required as part of the contract. Procurement contracts were quite common also, for example, in the textile, clothing and leather industry, energy and waste management, telecommunications, computer programming, and advertising and market research. For example, in telecommunications and computer programming approximately one in ten reported of innovation activity without the contract requiring it.

Source: Innovation 2012, Statistics Finland

Inquiries: Mervi Niemi 09 1734 3263 (9.6.2014 => 029 551 3263), tiede.teknologia@stat.fi

Director in charge: Hannele Orjala

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Updated 5.6.2014