eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

A lagging economy and an aging population are among the highest priority problems in Finland. Innovations and their proper commercialization can help the economy while simultaneously provid- ing solutions for the aging population. Innovations however do not merely happen, but need fostering and catalysts.

In this qualitative research, public procurement and public-private partnerships are studied through frameworks involving drivers, barriers, and critical success factors. The frameworks were built using grounded theory from the previous literature. The data on which the frameworks are tested on was obtained through interviews and public documents related to two healthcare centre outsourcings cases.

This study includes limitations such as the use of only two cases for the purposes of the testing the framework, and using interviews as the only primary data may hinder the generalizability of the results. In addition a temporal study with each of the innovation process' stages separated and stud- ied at the time of occurrence could produce different results.

The results indicate that the outsourcings have acted as a catalyst for innovations. Moreover it is implied that both, public procurement and the following public-private partnerships, have acted as a catalyst for innovations.