Governance of Public-Private Partnerships: What Works and What Does Not

For a long time now, it has been steadily speculated and propounded that public-private partnerships are a passkey to innovations and the gaps in funding and investment in science, technology, and innovation (STI). Despite abounding initiatives and unceasing thrust, their full potential is yet to be accomplished. Their contribution towards enhanced public service has been limited, and a major reason for the same is poor percipience of PPPs. PPPs in essence are complicated courtesy, the composition of actors, their institutional backgrounds, and their interaction patterns. They comprise of a hybrid structure that cuts across both public and private domains and targets at combining the practices of the two domains. However, the latter is a difficult proposition to align and achieve, and thus efficient governance is critical to the success of the partnerships. The hybrid characteristic of PPPs is further strengthened by the variety of paradigms of governance and mechanisms by which these partnerships are realised. Putting into place viable policy framework, facultative institutions, and processes along with defining stakeholder involvement and maintaining transparency and accountability are crucial aspects of PPP governance. In STI, among all these, another important nuance of PPP governance is securing private investment to fields with information asymmetries and high uncertainty, viz-a-viz the emerging areas of science. Additionally, in STI, governance mechanisms are defined not only by the factor of ‘uncertainty’ but also by an ambition of generating better policy instruments and a desire to foster collaborations among stakeholders with contrasting perspectives. Thus to explore the governance mechanisms and to understand what works and what does not, it is critical to first identify the stakeholders/actors and their roles with regard to the type of governance. Furthermore, an understanding of their actions in relation to different aspects of governance is necessary. This chapter characterises different governance modes and also brings forth, using examples, the results of blending different modes of governance to spur innovation and investment.