["R&D Management, EarlyView. ", "\nABSTRACT\nPublic procurement is increasingly employed as an instrument to stimulate innovation. However, little is known about how public actors manage problem‐framing processes in the context of public procurement of innovation. Drawing on the literature of problem‐framing and public procurement, we conduct an exploratory case study of three innovation procurement processes involving public buyers, private suppliers and other stakeholders. Our findings reveal how problems and potential solutions co‐evolve through interaction among actors and how public managers adopt different strategies to steer these processes. We develop a framework that conceptualises problem framing and management of the problem framing by three distinct approaches to control—keep, share and give—which vary in how control over elements of problem‐framing is distributed between public and private actors. Each approach to control shapes the public actor's facilitation role and influences suppliers' scope for action, learning and innovation. By placing problem framing as a key yet underexplored lever in collaborative innovation, our study contributes to both public procurement and innovation management research. We offer practical guidance on managing problem framing and orchestrating collaborative innovation across organisational boundaries.\n"]