Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - InnProBio (Forum for Bio-Based Innovation in Public Procurement)

Teaser

The EU project Forum for Bio-Based Innovation in Public Procurement (InnProBio), aims to develop a community of public procurement practitioners interested in innovative bio-based products and services. By harnessing the potential of public procurement to foster innovation...

Summary

The EU project Forum for Bio-Based Innovation in Public Procurement (InnProBio), aims to develop a community of public procurement practitioners interested in innovative bio-based products and services. By harnessing the potential of public procurement to foster innovation, InnProBio aims to work with the public sector in order to bridge the knowledge and awareness gap of public procurers by delivering training, workshops and support tools. The project facilitates the creation of (cross-national) buyers groups. Activities aims to lower the barriers and stimulate demand for bio-based products , thus support new markets for bio-based products in Europe. Therefore, InnProBio will identify relevant stakeholders from European, national, regional and local level including representatives from public procurement bodies and relevant decision makers. Stakeholders will be approached to provide information on their specific needs related to Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) with Bio-based Products and Services (BBPS).

In general, the long term growth potential for bio-based products will depend on their capacity to substitute fossil-based products and to satisfy various end-user requirements at a competitive cost, to create product that have low or neutral greenhouse gas emissions and leave a smaller ecological footprint, i.e. generating less waste, using less energy and water. The following specific obstacles were identified by InnProBio:
• new EU public procurement directive, adopted in February 2014, may cause new uncertainty
• lack of personal capacity in public procurement organisation and as a result sustainable approaches and products are not sufficiently taken into account
• bio-based products and services can often not prove their capacity to substitute fossil-based products
• bio-based products and services can often not prove their environmental advantages
• demographic or psychological barriers to online networking
• EU and national framework which does not support the uptake of bio-based products and services
Still, opposite of these challenges there are benefits which make bio-based products and services attractive and important. The consortium works towards an innovative, sustainable and inclusive bioeconomy. The uptake of bio-based products and services of the public sector could provide best practise for the society and increase the uptake of bio-based products and services in the private sector. More awareness regarding sustainable and environment-friendly bio-based products will contribute to the transition of a fossil-based to a bio-based economy.
The three year project which started in March 2015 is funded under the Horizon 2020 Work Programme 2014-2015 ‘Food security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine and maritime and inland water research and the bioeconomy’. Eight partners from Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Poland aim to achieve the following goals:
• Create and engage a community of public procurement practitioners interested in Public Procurement of Innovation with Bio-Based Products and Services
• Develop an elaborated and legally solid toolbox, based on stakeholder needs assessment and identified application areas and Bio-Based Products and Services that are of particular interest for public procurers, to inform about opportunities of Public Procurement of Innovation of Bio-Based Products and Services
• Conduct pilot capacity building and dialogue events with public procurers, decision makers, standardization bodies and business product suppliers from EU countries in the Netherlands, Poland and Germany
• Provide recommendations to public decision makers and standardization bodies on how to support Public Procurement of Innovation or Bio-Based Products and Services in order to boost innovation in Europe’s bioeconomy.
The action will help public procurers and stakeholders to facilitate the procurement of bio-based products and services. The results and information of public interest will be published in reports, an online Decision Support Tool and a Handbook.

Work performed

Until the end of the first reporting period several results were produced in the different work packages of InnProBio. The following list shows the main actions and results until the mid-term of the project (August 2016). Some of them can be viewed and downloaded from the project homepage (http://innprobio.innovation-procurement.org/home/).
• Study: Stakeholder Interest Map
• Survey: State-of-the-art experience with public procurement and bio-based products and services
• Study: Mapping of existing tools for bio-based products and services in public procurement
• Public Procurement Forum
• Factsheets (Nr. 1; 2; 3)
• Newsletter (Nr1; 2)
• A bio-based and a legal Glossary
• Market dialogue (Nr. 1)

Until the end of the second period (February 2018) the following products will be provided in order to implement the objectives:
• Report on legal assessment
• Toolbox for Public Procurement and Innovation with bio-based products and services
• Online Decision support tool
• Recommendations to decision makers and standardisation bodies
• Market dialogues, trainings and workshops (Nr.1; 2; 3; 4)

Final results

The results mentioned above, which have been realized until the mid-term of the project, are in line with the planned project progress and the project objectives.
During the second half of the project InnProBio will further focus on improving the knowledge and awareness of public procurers.
The impact of the InnProBio project will be increased by the effective dissemination and exploitation of results and various communication activities implemented during the whole course of the project and thereafter. The dissemination activities so far, which include a first market dialogue in the Netherlands, presentations of the project and of first results at external conferences and workshops, the website, newsletters and leaflets, the Procurement of Innovation Platform, contributed to the engagement of stakeholders and raised interest of a broad audience. Stakeholder involvement and dissemination activities are fundamental elements of InnProBio. Through communication with wider public and public procurers the value of the InnProBio project will be guaranteed. At the end of the project’s lifetime the goal is to give a statement if a building of (cross-national) buyers groups of public procurers on the innovation procurement of BBPS is feasible.