Openness in public management and inclusive innovation ecosystems: creating cost-advantage for energy start-ups

Openness needs to be institutionalized as deep value in public management to enable the creation of inclusive innovation ecosystems. While much innovation research speaks to ecosystems in which multiple cross-national and cross-sector players complement each other to materialize complex value proposition, the concept is largely obscure in public management. This mixed method research reflects on seven wind energy start-ups in Pakistan to demonstrate how openness in public management enacts inclusive ecosystems, and how it creates a low-cost advantage for renewable energy projects in energy-poor countries. Our cost analyses and interviews with managers in the investigated projects reveal that openness endows public management with a new capacity to reduce the start-up cost of energy projects. We offer policy recommendations around guarantees, financing, regulators, governmental control, tariffs, and transfer of technology.