Procuring innovation presents multiple challenges to buyers in all sectors - private and public alike. Adoption of innovation heavily reliant on infrastructure (e.g. green mobility) or on extensive inter-organizational and cross-sectoral collaboration (e.g. circular economy) presents common problems to buyers. And suppliers of innovative products and services face significant hurdles in finding and winning business with buyers. Furthermore, early sales do not necessarily lead to longer-term, profitable scale up. At its best, strategic public procurement plays a critical role in building and sustaining innovation ecosystems. The necessary reforms in public procurement are well underway, though take-up of certain procurement of innovation tools remains limited.
Legal reforms, European, national and regional policies, growing expertise, guidance, tools and case studies, and networks of early adopters are all key foundations for the adoption of (public) procurement of innovation (POI) practices, bringing together business and public sectors. If it is to drive deep, systemic change, the rate, scale and scope of POI adoption must increase. The goal of the PROCEDIN project has been to accelerate POI in the context of European cities’ innovation for sustainability and resilience agendas, focusing especially on two critical areas of innovation – circular economy and green mobility. The consortium has leveraged existing resources and its members’ extensive, pan-European professional networks, and initiate new provisions, to enhance and mobilize POI motivation, knowledge and skills. By mapping the complex landscape of growing expertise, experience and learning infrastructure, and relating resources to the varied needs of different stakeholder archetypes (defined by organization type, the extent of POI experience, etc.), gaps in provision were identified and addressed. Particular attention was paid to promoting enduring access and increased uptake of POI guidance and learning resources for buyers and vendors, and to building leadership capacity for driving and embedding innovation through strategic procurement.
