The role of technology innovation in climate crisis mitigation is by now well-established. But governments often underappreciate their own procurement power as a vital environmental policy instrument far closer to home, according to Dr. Tanya Filer, StateUp Founder and CEO.

In a new piece for The Brookings Institution’s TechStream blog, Dr. Filer argues that from equipping schools to building transportation systems, to forest management, to stationary supplies, the scale and dependability of governments’ collective procurement spending makes it one of the most powerful policy instruments for stimulating innovation to address the climate crisis.

However, despite the quality and range of technology developments, governments and startups are struggling to collaborate. Central to this difficulty is scant knowledge exchange across sectors. Entrepreneurs find tendering processes inscrutable and think government agencies are closed-minded regarding new solutions. For their part, public servants often feel in the dark when it comes to public-purpose innovation.

Dr. Filer describes a path forward to mobilise knowledge for public procurement green innovation, focused on 5 key areas including data management, upskilling procurers, and citizen engagement.

Find out more and read the full post on Brookings TechStream here.