Perspective: Consulting for the public sector

Jan, you’ve written a chapter on public sector consulting for the E-Fellows book Perspektive Unternehmensberatung. If you had to explain the topic to someone in a single sentence – what would you say?

It’s hard to sum it up in one sentence… I’d say: we help public sector clients make good decisions – and actually implement change, transformation and progress. That might involve a strategy, an evaluation or a funding programme, or we might be working on the ground, in local offices or within networks of expertise.

Many people are familiar with management consultancy primarily from the private sector. What makes Prognos different?

In terms of the tools of the trade, we’re quite similar – we analyse, develop strategies and support change processes. The difference lies more in who we work for and how we work. We’re strongly guided by the whole policy cycle – this becomes particularly clear when working with federal or state ministries, but also with European institutions such as the European Commission.

A traditional strategy consultancy usually asks: “How can this one company become more successful?” For us, it’s more about questions such as: “How can industrial transformation be achieved?”, “How can public administration become more digital?”, “How can regions become more competitive?”. In other words, we take a society-wide approach.

What appeals to you personally about this?

To be honest, it’s mostly the impact our work leaves behind – which often extends far beyond the organisation we’re advising. When we work on concepts for the energy transition or the digitalisation of public administration, you realise that, ultimately, this affects a great many people, not just a single client. For me, this combination of analytical work and tangible impact is what makes the job meaningful.

Who exactly do you work for?

The spectrum is quite broad – ranging from local authorities through regional and federal authorities right up to the EU, namely the European Commission and the European Investment Bank. Added to this are institutions with a semi-public remit, business development agencies, chambers of commerce and industry, associations, and sometimes trade unions too. So it’s not just this “one particular ministry” that we deal with, but a rather diverse range of clients.

Dr Jan-Philipp Kramer engaging with European decision-makers, cluster organisations and innovation stakeholders at the S3 CoP Conference 2026 in Brussels.

Can you name a project that has particularly inspired you recently?

For me personally, working on the implementation of the European Cluster Collaboration Platform (ECCP) was one of the most formative European projects of recent years. As part of the project, we had the opportunity to get to know over 20 regions across Europe and beyond in depth, and to work on the ground with businesses, clusters, research institutions and policymakers. These trips repeatedly highlighted just how different the economic, technological and social starting points are across Europe’s regions. At the same time, they demonstrated that it is precisely this diversity that is one of Europe’s key strengths. Whether it be industrial transformation in Navarre, energy technologies in Vaasa, aerospace in Podkarpackie or innovation in the Greater Copenhagen area – every region has its own areas of expertise, networks and paths to development. The most important insight was that Europe’s competitiveness arises not in spite of, but precisely because of its regional diversity. Successful European cooperation therefore does not mean levelling out differences, but rather highlighting the respective strengths, linking them together and channelling them into shared networks of innovation and value creation.

What never fails to inspire me about such projects is that we combine scientific analysis with very concrete recommendations for action – whilst working with people from politics, public administration, business and academia, all of whom have a different perspective on the subject.

You describe a very broad range of topics in your work. What does that look like in day-to-day life?

It’s quite a mixed bag, to be honest. On a Monday, I might be in a meeting on the innovative capacity of regions – ranging from knowledge transfer from universities to start-up ecosystems, right through to international benchmarks; on a Wednesday, the focus is on resilience: more robust supply chains, reducing strategic dependencies on energy or raw materials. In between, there’s securing the skilled workforce, climate adaptation and AI. At first, it can feel a bit overwhelming – but now it’s what I enjoy most, because so much of it is interconnected and you’re constantly learning something new.

What skills should people starting out in their careers bring to the table?

An interest in the subject matter helps, of course. But to be honest, curiosity and a willingness to get to grips with new topics are almost more important to me. Our teams are very diverse – business graduates as well as economists, political scientists, sociologists, geographers and engineers, plus an increasing number of specialised master’s graduates, for example in sustainability or data analytics. We genuinely welcome different perspectives because they lead to better solutions.

What often surprises new colleagues?

Many are initially surprised by just how varied the professional backgrounds within the team are – and how early on you’re actually given responsibility. At the same time, you quickly realise that you won’t get very far on your own with complex issues; you rely on exchanging ideas with others.

Was there ever a period that was more difficult, or something you underestimated?

Definitely the period during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the project business, this led to many new tasks and, of course, significantly changed the way we worked together as a team. I think we adapted very well overall back then, and many of the innovations from that time are still with us today.

Finally: Why should someone who’s job-hunting and weighing up several consultancy firms take a closer look at Prognos?

Because here you get to work on issues that really make a difference – combining academic rigour with genuine practical impact. If you’re keen to get to the bottom of complex questions and work with a wide variety of people on solutions that have an impact far beyond the individual project, then you’ve come to the right place.

More about Dr Jan-Philipp Kramer

Dr Jan-Philipp Kramer is a partner at Prognos and heads the Brussels office. A graduate in economic geography, he has been advising clients at Prognos since 2011 on European funding policy, strategy development and transformation topics such as digitalisation and the circular economy – for clients ranging from the European Commission to German state ministries.

The full article on public sector consulting has been published in the E-Fellows e-book Perspektive Unternehmensberatung. The e-book can be downloaded after registering free of charge on the E-Fellows network.