Developing innovative partnerships between governments, enterprises, universities and communities

This post is written by Larissa Oliveira Duarte, Designer, and Rosana Aparecida Vasques, a lecturer at the University of Sao Paulo.

• The problem: Risk and uncertainty are complex societal problems that demand aligned efforts from diverse stakeholders to solve them.

• Why it matters: Partnerships ensure combined resources and skills to solve these problems.

• The solution: Multi-partners in the public and private sector, as well as research institutions and communities, may unite to co-create and achieve innovative solutions.

Today’s complex challenges require collaboration between sectors and organisations in order to achieve development successfully. Societies are immersed in risk and uncertain environments, as seen in healthy, climate, social and financial crises worldwide. In this way, partnerships are imperative for strengthening visibility and sharing knowledge, skills, expertise, technology and financial resources.

Partnerships are relationships where all participants contribute and share responsibilities and values. It is required to develop bottom-up and top-down strategies simultaneously, including the participation of governments, communities, universities and enterprises. Bottom-up practices can include local policies adopted at the level of municipalities and citizens’ arrangements, while top-down approaches can relate to regional, national and international actions. In this case, collaborations with efficient governance forms, dedicated alliance functions, and trusting relationships assure to be high performing (Gulati, 1995). At the same time, a central issue in collaboration is the building of trust among collaborating partners (Van Huijstee, Francken, Pieter, 2007). With the aim of solving complex societal challenges, partners may get together and unite their capabilities and straights towards innovation.

A perspective on partnership

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal number 17 – “Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development” – motivates public, public-private, and civil society partnerships. It considers partnerships as important for mobilising, allocating and sharing expertise, technologies, and financial resources to achieve sustainable development goals in all countries (Oliveira-Duarte et al., 2021).

Potential partners should verify the benefits and risks of partnering before the commitment. Risks can include the loss of autonomy and conflicts of interest and goals. It is also important to explore and define what kind of resources each partner will transfer to the partnership, and expectations in return. Additionally, partners must agree on principles and create a partnering agreement to build successful and probably long-term relationships. Finally, they should decide on the partnership governance, measurable targets, internal and external communication, financing options, monitoring and evaluation strategy (Goransson, Vierros, Borrevik, 2019).

Partners then ought to evaluate the relationship progress considering their aims, projects and what they have learned with the partnering experience. They will also assess the impact of the partnership on stakeholders. If the partnership comes to an end, the partners will evaluate whether to conclude the partnership, continue in its current format, adjust the structure, or expand the cooperation (Goransson, Vierros, Borrevik, 2019).

Tackling society, one issue at a time

Partners align towards innovation development aiming at addressing complex societal problems. Innovation is often a process of creating new social connections among people, and the ideas and resources they transmit (Obstfeld, 2005). The Quadruple Helix Model of innovation, conceptualised by Elias Carayannis and David Campbell, recognises prominent actors in the innovation system: science/academic research, policy/government, industry/business, and society. In keeping with this model, governments prioritise greater public involvement in innovation processes (Schütz, Heidingsfelder, Schraudner, 2019).

For instance, involving the public in research, development and innovation is the prevalent paradigm in international policy today, impacting national and regional innovation policies and enabling better evaluation of research organisations and proposals. Many universities have promoted the institutionalisation of technology transfer activities, and pursued the commercialisation of research results. It increasingly focuses on knowledge co-production through dialogue between public institutions, citizens and experts regarding research and innovation (Bellandi, Donati, Cataneo, 2021).

In the service ecosystem literature, policy-making and service delivery in the public domain are no longer viewed as one-way processes, indicating a co-production approach in which users and communities are part of service planning and delivery, which can be related to the multi-partner’s perspective and UN-SDG #17. According to Vargo and Lusch, a service ecosystem is defined as a “relatively self-contained, self-adjusting system of resource-integrating actors connected by shared institutional arrangements and mutual value creation through service exchange” (Vargo, Lusch, 2016, p. 11). Value co-creation and co-production are essential debates within public management. They are the core of effective public services delivery and function in achieving societal needs, such as social inclusion or citizen engagement. Thus, a service-dominant approach to innovation in public services places the service at the heart of the process (Osborne, Radnor, Nasi, 2013).

How to build a successful strategy

Economic growth, technology, and innovation represent a common institutional narrative. Partners should align for a common purpose, define their roles, and collaborate to converge and expand their potential (Oliveira-Duarte et al., 2021). In this way, multi-partners will consider their value co-creation convergence and coherence to advance partnerships and project implementations. What’s the vision of the future? Partners deliver on their promises and responsibilities while jointly communicating and monitoring the process. When all partners contribute, it is possible to create synergies and collective legitimacy and knowledge, to connect and build transparent solid relationships. If agreement is the key to innovation, then partnering activities may be a fundamental step of stakeholders’ involvement in that innovation.

👋 You can create a post like this one! Share your thoughts with a community of public servants. Learn more

(Image Credit: Rosana Vasques)