SERVPPIN · The Contribution of Public and Private Services to European Growth and Welfare, and the Role of Public-Private Innovation Networks

Services are the dominant economic sector in modern economies and are a crucial component of competitiveness strategy and welfare in Europe. In the past public and private services have been studied in isolation of one another. At best this is misleading. At worst it produces a false understanding of the drivers, dynamics, and impact of services. The ServPPIN project addresses this problem by analyzing public and private services, and their impact on growth and welfare. In particular, it focuses on service innovation and on public-private innovation networks because these are an important organizational mode for developing, producing, and delivering new and improved services. They work by establishing and enhancing complementarities and synergies between public and private organizations. The research objectives of the project are: • Identifying and understanding the links between public and private services and economic growth and welfare. • Understanding service innovation and how public-private sector interactions function, and how they can be better managed to increase performance. • Understanding the characteristics of successful public-private service networks which have a high impact on growth and welfare. The achievement of these objectives will be undertaken by theoretical and empirical research that is cross-country and cross-sector. This will be supported by in-depth case studies covering major service types: health, transport, and knowledge intensive services. The expected outputs of the project are the development of new knowledge/ improved scientific understanding of services, improved policy prescriptions, and the dissemination of this new knowledge to business leaders and policy makers. In order to diffuse knowledge effectively the Project has set up a stakeholder international Expert Reference Group that comprises enterprises, professional associations, trade unions and public institutions. The aim is to affect policy in services, including EU policies.