Part one of the review examines barriers, enablers, and support measures for start-ups in a Finnish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish context. The barriers for impact start-ups’ participation in public procurement concerns public administration models, the competition with larger and more established suppliers, lack of local leadership and capacity to prioritise collaboration with impact start-ups, and resistance to change. Following the barriers, we review enablers and institutional support needed for Nordic impact start-ups and public procurement processes to be successful. Here, the main points concern national agencies supporting impact start-ups, participation in networks and dialogue activities, and establishment of public models that supports innovation partnerships. 

The annual amounts spent on public procurement are Sweden, EUR 77 billion; Finland, EUR 47 billion; Denmark, EUR 51 billion; Norway, EUR 63 billion (Huynh et al. 2022; KEINO 2022). Since the possibilities related to impact start-ups remain relatively unexplored in public procurement, it is necessary to understand any structural barriers that limit possibilities for public-private cooperation. Many obstacles facing start-ups relate to stiff bureaucracy, such as contradicting administrative legacies and silo organisations, lack of competence and time, or a lack of transparency about public procurement. Below, we discuss the main barriers in each country and offer some recommendations on how impact start-ups can transcend these hurdles.