Public-Private Innovation Partnerships (PPIPs) are increasingly used as a tool for addressing ‘wicked’ public sector challenges. ‘Innovation’ is, however, frequently treated as a ‘magic’ concept: used unreflexively, taken to be axiomatically ‘good’, and left undefined within policy programmes. Using McConnell’s framework of policy success and failure and a case study of a multi-level PPIP in the English health service (NHS Test Beds), this paper critically explores the implications of the mobilisation of innovation in PPIP policy and practice. We highlight how the interplay between levels (macro/micro and policy maker/recipient) can shape both emerging policies and their prospects for success or failure. The paper contributes to an understanding of PPIP success and failure by extending McConnell’s framework to explore inter-level effects between policy and innovation project, and demonstrating how the success of PPIP policy cannot be understood without recognising the particular political effects of ‘innovation’ on formulation and implementation.

公私创新伙伴关系 (PPIP) 越来越多地被用作解决“邪恶”公共部门挑战的工具。然而，“创新”经常被视为一个“神奇”的概念：被不加反省地使用，被认为是公理化的“好”，并且在政策计划中没有定义。使用 McConnell 的政策成败框架和英国卫生服务（NHS 测试床）中多层次 PPIP 的案例研究，本文批判性地探讨了 PPIP 政策和实践中创新动员的影响。我们强调了不同层次（宏观/微观和政策制定者/接受者）之间的相互作用如何影响新兴政策及其成功或失败的前景。