Central London is a hotspot for culinary institutions, bringing together cuisines from around the world for people to relish. However, the deceptively sweet smells from these establishments might be more harmful than we think.
Commercial cooking is the third-largest single source of Particulate Matter (PM 2.5) in London, originating from cooking fuels and food preparation methods like frying and grilling. PM2.5 are tiny particles in the air that are small enough to travel deep inside the lungs, heart and brain. Long-term exposure has been linked to serious health conditions such as heart disease, respiratory illnesses, and even cognitive decline.
When the Westminster City Council endeavoured to tackle this problem through a trial of a new air purification system, the secret ingredient in their recipe for delivery was a process of procurement that allowed the Council to find, pilot and scale innovation. When used effectively, procurement can be the key ingredient that gives local government programmes more impact.
The Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC) is an Innovate UK-funded initiative led by Connected Places Catapult. It helps public bodies build skills and confidence to use procurement to drive innovation. As part of the IPEC cohort programme, Westminster City Council received support to strengthen its approach to procurement. This helped to reduce risk, speed up delivery and bring forward an innovative solution to improve the wellbeing of Westminster’s residents.
If we’re serious about delivering public value—whether on net zero, housing, adult social care or local economic growth—then we need the UK’s public sector to use procurement more effectively. There is now a growing recognition across local and national governments that procurement is not simply a back-office function, but a powerful and under-used lever to drive innovation, create new markets and achieve mission-led public policy outcomes. Smarter, more collaborative public procurement has a unique potential to scale up innovation, if organisations can solve key challenges.
First, there’s a cultural challenge. Many public sector organisations are still understandably cautious about risk, but this often leads to “safe” procurement that prioritises compliance and predictability over innovation. This can mean choosing the lowest bid, relying on existing frameworks or writing overly prescriptive specifications that leave little room for new ideas. Without senior leadership support to take a more exploratory approach, innovation is often stopped before it starts.
Second, there’s a capability gap. Even when there is appetite to try something new, many local authorities lack the in-house skills, training or confidence to engage the market differently. Often, procurement teams are not embedded in service delivery or policy discussions early enough and innovation teams may not fully understand procurement rules or flexibilities.
Third, there’s a data problem. We cannot improve what we do not measure. The new Procurement Act and its accompanying digital platform are already making improvements, but many public bodies still lack consistent, well-structured data on how much their organisation spends on innovation (internal resources or procurement spend). They are not
able to assess where innovation is required or the level of effectiveness and the return on investment achieved on any innovation activity.
Lastly, the rate of technological change has never been greater. We are seeing new advances coming out incredibly quickly from quantum, AI, connectivity, cloud, new materials, IoT devices and much more. The public sector needs to quickly assess what is market hype and what can actually add value. The ability of public bodies to adopt new tools through pre-market engagement, pre-commercial procurement and experimentation has never been more necessary.
Solving these challenges can fundamentally change results. IPEC has now worked with public authorities across the UK to embed mission-led procurement and build the capabilities needed to make this happen. One example is Dorset Council, which wanted to better harness local SMEs and tech innovators to improve frontline services. With IPEC’s support, the Council developed a Digital Innovation Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS)—an agile, flexible route to market for emerging suppliers with fresh ideas. Rather than locking innovation out with rigid specifications, this new approach enables rapid onboarding of suppliers, fostering experimentation in areas like adult social care and community engagement.
At the leadership level, we’re supporting senior leaders to create the “air cover” needed to back innovation, even when outcomes aren’t guaranteed. That means helping chief executives, finance directors and political leaders understand how to manage failure, reward learning and shift from one-offpilots to embedded, scalable change. To support this cultural shift, IPEC has launched a series of Chatham House-style roundtables and workshops called Procurement Dojo: Forging Trust, Sharing Wisdom. These sessions provide a safe and confidential space for local authorities to discuss their procurement experiences openly, including the challenges and setbacks they have faced. By sharing lessons and insights, participants can help each other avoid common pitfalls, make better-informed decisions and strengthen trust in innovation-led procurement across the public sector.
Because to keep on getting better at using procurement, we need better information: standardised data, shared definitions, and better categorisation—so that we can meaningfully track whether innovation is having the desired effect. The new Procurement Act is a step in the right direction, and IPEC’s work supports organisations in making use of the new opportunities in the Act.
Over 3,000 people across the UK, from local authorities and NHS trusts to suppliers and academics, are actively engaging with IPEC to share knowledge, test approaches and build confidence in innovation-led procurement. Now we want to see more authorities embedding a “test, learn, grow” approach into their procurement strategies, where market engagement is iterative, evidence-led and mission-aligned. Regulation and high level policy alone can’t deliver the potential of procurement: culture, skills and capability all need to evolve. With the right tools, leadership and support, procurement can go from an overlooked process to one of the public sector’s most powerful instruments for change. As the Institute for Government recently highlighted, the new Commercial Innovation Hub in DSIT should work closely with organisations such as Innovate UK and the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre to share best practice and build capability across the public sector. IPEC stands ready to support this effort, helping government bodies at all
levels to embed innovation into their procurement practice. By connecting expertise, data, and leadership, we can turn procurement from a compliance exercise into a strategic tool that delivers public value and supports mission-led government.
Rikesh Shah is head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre. Shah will be be speaking at Public Procurement Conference 2026 on 25 February. Sign up to join him here