The proposal aims to illustrate the Sardinian case through a description of the rationale behind it and a governance model tested for strengthening the link between innovation and public procurement. From the beginning, the crucial goal was as follows: how to render innovation procurement more attractive for public buyers and for SMEs. In the combination of public procurement and innovation, Sardegna Ricerche has tried to move on two guidelines. A) First of all, Sardegna Ricerche has implemented numerous activities aimed at satisfying specific needs and requirements of public administrations and enterprises through the acquisition, development and/or dissemination of solutions that are not necessarily new to the market or that exceed the frontier of technology, but that represent organizational or process or service innovations for the contracting authorities and enterprises, such as e-procurement, digitalization, skills strengthening, Green Public Procurement, (innovation of the procurement). B) Secondly Sardegna Ricerche has planned and implemented an integrated action plan that pursues the crucial goal of stimulating and disseminating skills and tools on innovation public procurement (or public procurement for innovation), supporting regional public administrations in purchasing research and development services. The response of Sardegna Ricerche working group has been to suggest a non-centralised cooperative pathway for innovation procurement provided on a tailor-made basis.