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This article examines links between innovation and inter-organizational learning in the context of public service reform. The theory-building and empirical research draws on longitudinal analysis using mixed methods and multiple stakeholder respondents, set in the context of the Beacon Scheme, an instrument of UK public service reform. The research examines two questions: first, how does inter-organizational learning contribute to innovation? Second, how do changes in the approach to inter-organizational learning shape changes in the approach to innovation over time? The research on the whole of English local government (N¼ 388) used temporal bracketing to examine developments in three phases over nine years. The article builds theory about the inter-organizational learning underpinning innovation, and shows that the approach to innovation changed over time, shifting from learning to imitate, to learning to innovate.Points for practitioners:Innovation is underpinned by inter-organizational learning.Organizations improved over time in their ability to acquire and use learning.Innovation involves the sharing of tacit as well as explicit knowledge.Over time, organizations learnt to shift from learning to imitate, to learning to innovate. Improvement through inter-organizational learning was not uniform. Initially, differences between organizations widened as those able to acquire learning used it to improve more rapidly.Adaptation to local context, not adoption of a single approach, is apparent but is underemphasized in public service reform.Learning pull, not dissemination push, aids learning and improvement.