Governments around the world are pressed to develop innovative solutions for the wicked problems they are facing. To develop these solutions, the public innovation capacity-defined as the capacity to develop and realize new ideas for societal problems-is of crucial importance. This article builds a model of the public innovation capacity on the basis of innovation systems theory and the literature on public innovation. Five functions-mobilizing, improvising, vitalizing, balancing, and

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... ng-are identified and operationalized to construct a self-assessment survey instrument for governments. This instrument in tested by using it to self-assess the public innovation capacity of a Dutch municipality. This test highlights the validity of the instrument and shows that it helps to identify weaknesses in the public innovation capacity. This measurement can form the basis for a reflection on the government organization's public innovation capacity as a basis for interventions to improve this capacity.