Statistics Sweden (SCB) has performed the Community Innovation Survey (CIS) since the mid-1990s. In 2021 the Swedish Innovation Agency, Vinnova, commissioned SCB to perform a survey of public sector innovation among workplaces in the public sector. The CIS is the model on which the public sector survey was based but modifications were made to address the differences between the public and private sectors. Previous iterations of the public sector innovation survey were also considered in the surveys design.

Comparison of the private and public innovation surveys show that 63 and 64 percent of private and public performers respectively introduced at least one innovation within the reference period in the health services sector. In the education sector, 45 percent of private and 37 percent of public performers were innovative. In both education and health services, public performers were more innovation active than their private counterparts.

Read more about innovation in welfare sectors by private and public performers in Innovation in the welfare sector (available in Swedish).