A focused content hub to advance innovation in public procurement

We partnered with Connected Places Catapult and the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC) to create a digital toolkit and online experience that helps public sector teams embed innovation into their procurement strategies.

The result is a structured, explorable content hub supported by a streamlined cohort application process, making it easy for teams to learn, apply and join IPEC’s growing community.

Context and challenge

Procurement is one of the most powerful tools public sector organisations have to stimulate innovation, but traditional processes often limit experimentation and reward risk aversion.

IPEC wanted to create a practical, accessible guide to innovation-friendly procurement. Something that could help public sector professionals explore new methods, shift mindsets, and design routes to market that support better outcomes for people and places.

Our approach

We worked with IPEC to design and build a comprehensive content hub that guides users through the why, how and what of innovation-friendly procurement.

The hub is:

• Modular and interactive, designed to support multi-session learning
• Grounded in real-life case studies, showing what good looks like in practice
• Built with reusability in mind, suitable for live procurement work, internal training, or early-stage planning

We structured the content around six core themes, from routes to market and supplier engagement, to governance and capability building. Each section balances legal clarity with actionable prompts and pathways for change.