The Vilans Research Programme Dignity & Pride is the first nationwide innovation procurement project for nursing home services in Europe. The research program aimed to contribute to the structural increase of the quality of services provided to elderly clients in the Netherlands, based on an open innovation approach. This case study provides a policy, legal and theoretical background to illustrate the experience of Vilans in the procurement of R&D leading to insights for improvement of the care of elderly clients. To ensure quality and manage risk, the main building blocks and steering mechanisms included a governance structure with a review committee, an open policy document as part of the technical specifications, and the use of an open procedure of four (thematic) lots and multiple framework agreements covering three R&D steps. Keywords: open; innovation; procurement; Research and Development (R&D); elderly care