Innovation is traditionally steered by commercial logic: new ideas are justified by the promise of market success and increased turnover. With the introduction of ESG, that lens is narrowing. In fact, as societal challenges intensify (e.g., climate risk, ageing populations) so too does the demand for innovation that serves broader audiences. Enter Public Value Innovation (PVI), an emerging stream of research in innovation management concerned with products or services primarily developed with the goal of creating value that benefits everyone.

Unlike CSR or responsible innovation, PVI isn’t a corporate add-on or ethical afterthought. It’s a paradigm shift: innovation whose primary objective is to generate value for society as a whole, not just for shareholders or consumers. It is collectively created by public, private, and civil society actors working toward societal goals at the local, national, or global level.

PVI doesn’t reject financial logic; it reframes it. Competitive advantage is still relevant, but now it’s tied to solving complex public problems. PVI ecosystems are mission-oriented, often contextualised around specific goals like decarbonisation or public health. And because no single actor can own the solution, value is co-created across diverse and, at times, unconventional partnerships. It’s messier. Slower. But far more consequential.

How to apply it

• Co-create in public-private-university partnerships
  Innovation ecosystems with public value goals and objectives emerge as possible solutions to tackle changing societal challenges. Examples worth mentioning include Cardiff University and the Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg. Universities have within this new paradigm an opportunity to emerge as orchestrators and knowledge brokers.
• Prioritise long-term impact and plural outcomes
  In PVI, success isn’t just ROI. It includes societal resilience, environmental sustainability, and social equity. These must be tracked via both financial and non-financial metrics, using longitudinal data where possible to assess how outcomes evolve over time.
• Adapt business models to collective value creation
  Traditional models focused on capturing value may not suffice. PVI often demands redesigning how value is created and shared across an ecosystem. Firms should explore hybrid or challenge-led models that reflect joint public-private missions.