The PRONTO project will design and implement a series of pilot public procurement for innovation actions in the area of health, clean energy and environment.
The project supports public buyers in designing, implementing and monitoring PPI procedures, namely the purchase of innovative products, services or works that address their needs, are new on the market and contain novel characteristics.
PPI may have the potential to drive innovation in the public sector and boost economic growth by, among others, providing innovative companies with the opportunity for first user references. However, despite its potential, PPI widespread adoption is only slowly taking up as there are several identified challenges that need to be addressed (e.g. lack of awareness, experience, capabilities related to new technologies and market developments) and barriers to overcome (e.g. the lack of interaction with procuring organisations, the use of over-specified tenders, low competences and motivation of procurers and a poor management of risk).
The project is tackling these challenges along 3 interrelated modules – Assessment of public buyers’ needs (M1), Engagement and capacity building for public procurers at European and national levels (M2), Piloting PPIs (assisting public buyers (the Slovak Environment Agency and the Romanian North-East Regional Development Agency) to design, launch, implement and monitor PPI calls for tenders in the fields of clean energy, healthcare and regional development.
Beneficiaries: individual public entities, purchasing bodies, private companies as suppliers of innovative solutions, policy makers, experts/advisors.
Resources needed
The project will receive a subsidy of approximately € 1.5 million from the European program Competitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (COSME).
Evidence of success
As the project is in an early stage of implementation, the results achieved so far are:
- Development of the Report: Analysis of Public Procurement of Innovation in EU;
- Development of the Booklets: European Public Procurement Landscape; Public Procurement of Innovation. Contrasting Approaches throughout Europe – Case Studies.
Difficulties encountered
Lack of awareness, knowledge and experience related to new technologies and market developments;
Lack of incentives and motivation to buy innovative solutions;
Lack of personnel resources to facilitate market analysis;
Lack of national strategies that could foster innovation procurement widely.
Potential for learning or transfer
The PRONTO project offers a clear added value for European public buyers as it offers them support via a set of services, such as training, staff exchanges and brokerage events.
All the insights, lessons learnt, contacts and knowledge collected during the implementation of the project will offer business opportunities for SMES and large enterprises by paving the way for public buyers to launch calls for tenders looking for innovative solutions.
In order to increase the impact of the project activities and maximise the opportunities of reaching beneficiaries in the most efficient way, PRONTO will establish collaborations with similar initiatives and projects.
In this context, a collaboration with Procure2Innovate project has already been established, namely several Procure2Innovate partners have been interviewed for the analysis of the national PPI landscape, while the coordinators of the 2 projects agreed to design a joint action plan to maximise the impact of the PPI process.
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Tags: Action plan, Case study, European Union, Innovation, Policy, Private sector, Procurement, Public sector, Research
