Max Rolfstam examines the increasing emphasis on public procurement as a means to stimulate innovation and the theoretical implications of this policy development. While 'regular' public procurement may be regarded as the outcome of anonymous market processes, public procurement of innovation must be understood as a special case of innovation, where social processes - and consequently the institutions governing these social processes - need to be considered. This book contributes to our understanding with a detailed institutional analysis of the public procurement of innovation.