Coping with austerity: innovation via collaboration or retreat to the known?

Abstract

This paper explores new approaches to the management of public sector austerity through collaborative innovation. Practitioner-based insider research offers an insight into how collaborative innovation can work in the public sector, what undermines it and what impact the active management of a turbulent environment can make to outcomes. A flexible action framework—modelling collaborative innovation—offers a practical means of understanding and supporting effective innovation through collaboration.