The energy transition affects the construction sector through requirements to reduce energy demand and fossil fuel dependency. This highlights the significance of implementing energy innovation in buildings, focusing on client and their internal strategies and capabilities to drive innovation. Network perspectives are important when exploring client-driven innovation since the client cannot innovate alone. Therefore, a business ecosystem lens was applied to study a public client's strategy to coordinate and collaborate with partners in construction projects implementing innovation. Interviews were conducted with 25 client representatives and partners from four regular projects implementing innovation. This data was qualitatively explored to map business ecosystem elements required to co-create value. A longterm overview of the cases shows a client's continuous work to implement energy innovations. The results show a client strategy that contains securing innovationspecific expertise and shaping procurement and contracts for cooperation and R&D inclusion. Also, establishing long-term partnerships and routines for building knowledge between projects supports continuous development. We contribute to construction management literature by applying an ecosystem lens to client strategy for innovation implementation in business ecosystems.