# UK Launches Innovation Procurement Playbook

At Think Innovation for Government 2026, UK public-sector speakers identified weak buyer demand, risk aversion, and difficulty scaling pilots into operational services as barriers to innovation—not procurement rules alone. The newly launched Procurement of Innovation Playbook may help buyers structure engagement with suppliers. For contractors, the discussion points to the value of engaging public buyers early around defined service problems and demonstrating how proposed solutions can progress beyond pilots into lasting operations.

- Buyers and suppliers should frame discussions around specific service needs and the path from pilot to operational adoption, rather than treating procurement-rule changes as the sole route to innovation.
- Contractors can strengthen proposals by explaining how a solution will scale and become part of ongoing operations from the outset.
- The Procurement of Innovation Playbook is a resource buyers may use to structure supplier engagement; the signal provides no contract values, solicitations, or deadlines.

**Jurisdictions:** international
**Published:** November 12, 2026

### Government Entities
- Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
- Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG)
- Home Office
- Cabinet Office
- National Audit Office (NAO)

### Key Quotes
> Innovation is not the problem. It is that scaling problem. You need to think about scaling at the beginning, not really early on, not when you think that it’s a go. It needs to be considered right at the beginning.
> — Jane Lucas, Head of Policy for Local Digital

> What the Commercial Innovation Hub will tell you is this is a cultural problem, and it is a behavioural problem. People buy what they’ve always bought, and they buy it in the way they’ve always bought it, and that means they get the same outcomes they always got.
> — Toni Peters, Deputy Director of Commercial Innovation

### Sources
- [Think Innovation for Government 2026: 9 key takeaways | THINK Digital Partners : THINK Digital Partners](https://www.thinkdigitalpartners.com/news/2026/11/12/think-innovation-for-government-2026-9-key-takeaways) - THINK Digital Partners