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Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Procure2Innovate (procure2innovate: European network of competence centres for innovation procurement)

Teaser

Summary

Procure2innovate is creating an EU-wide network of national competence centres on innovation procurement. As a communication and support action, the project acts as a mediator and facilitator for the competence centres to enable them to learn from each other, grow together and offer optimal services to public procurers in their country.
Specifically, the project will set up five new competence centres in Estonia, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Ireland. And it is extending the scope of support offered by five existing competence centres in Austria, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands. The competence centres offer a variety of services to public procurers in the respective countries such as training, best practice examples, conferences, networking events, legal support, individual counselling, financial incentive schemes and assistance in finding national and European funding.
These services will allow procurers to further enhance their procurement practices to include innovation. With innovation as a key aspect in procurement public tenders are more cost-effective and achieve better public services. Enhanced capacity to carry out innovative tenders will also enable public procurers to initiate collaborative and joint procurements nationally and cross-border.
The work of all competence centres during the project is based on shared views and common goals. This will aid in mainstreaming innovation procurement practices across Europe. As a united voice the network of competence centres is able to communicate with policy makers and further increase the impact of innovation procurement.

In addition, each competence centre will promote Horizon 2020 and its synergies with ESIF funding in cooperation with thematic Horizon 2020 National Contact Points (H2020 NCPs) for innovation procurement. National competence centres for innovation procurement will and already are supporting public procurers in building capacity to successfully apply for and complete European PCP and PPI co-fund actions.

The results delivered in this project will underscore and support the purchases carried out in PCP and PPI co-fund actions within the same work programme. procure2innovate gives all interested procurers, specifically those responsible for the purchasing of ICT products and services, the know-how to successfully execute their innovative procurement.

Work performed

Establishing and expanding the network
During its first year the procure2innovate project has successfully established a knowledge sharing mechanism which promotes trust and transparency between the members of the network. The members have also completed more intense exchanges in buddy pairs.
Two additional EU member states have joined the project with many others being interested. With Finland and Lithuania joining the action, the network now covers 12 countries.

Taking stock
procure2innovate has used its first year to collect and cluster all services and tools offered by the existing competence centres. The project has also analysed the organisational structure, political leadership and other institutional characteristics of existing competence centres with a view towards offering an optimal start for the new competence centres (stakeholder map). This work culminated in the finalisation of a how-to guidance for setting up a competence centre and a road map for the candidate countries.

Identifying target audience and new services
During two bespoke workshops new and existing competence centres identified unique characteristics and needs of their target audience. Using those profiles they initiated the development of new services during a design thinking workshop.

Setting the scene for the new competence centres
All candidates used the first year to prepare the launch of the new competence centre. It is no surprise that this proved to be a different challenge in each country. But each new competence centre has taken significant steps towards becoming a trusted source of support for public procurers in their country. The activities to achieve this involved evening events with key stakeholders (Ireland), kick-off workshops (Greece), multi-stakeholder working groups (Italy) and the signing of a MoU (Portugal).

Communication and dissemination
Based on these results the project developed communication materials at European level and provided templates and support for communication activities at the national level.
Alliances have been formed with other key initiatives at European level, such as the Urban Agenda for Public Procurement and the Innovation Broker project. procure2innovate has also brought together representatives from DG Connect and DG Grow to discuss joint activities.

Final results

Overall the project procure2innovate aims at improving institutional support for public procurers of information and communication technologies (ICT) and other product groups implementing innovation procurement by establishing or expanding competence centres for innovation procurement in ten EU Member States.

procure2innovate is a project that goes beyond addressing product groups or specific tenders but instead aims to change the institutional landscape of member states. Enabling networking and providing institutional support to all public procurers will enable the mainstreaming of innovation procurement practices at a greater scope and pace.

Given its wide-reaching institutional layout the project aims at having the following impacts:
â€¢ Increased use of innovation procurement instruments
â€¢ Increased number of innovative public tenders
â€¢ Increased participation of public procurers in Horizon 2020 and ESIF funded projects
â€¢ More innovation-oriented public sector and competitive supply side