An EU-wide springboard for regional implementation of innovation procurement

Project Information

PREPARE

Grant agreement ID: 101134321

DOI

10.3030/101134321

Project closed

EC signature date 23 November 2023

Start date 1 December 2023

End date 31 December 2024

Funded under

• European innovation ecosystems

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 675 264,61

Coordinated by

TICBIOMED TECNOLOGIAS DE LA INFORMACION PARA LA SALUD EN LA REGION DE MURCIA ASOCIACION
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PREPARE (An EU-wide springboard for regional implementation of innovation procurement)

Reporting period: 2023-12-01 to 2024-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The New European Innovation Agenda is designed to put Europe at the forefront of next-generation deep tech innovation, making it a place where innovators, start-ups and scale-ups can become global innovation leaders. Public-private partnerships can play a valuable role. The EU-funded PREPARE project intends to lay the groundwork for the creation of innovation procurement policies and instruments at regional and European levels leveraging joint cooperation. Using four development sites, the project will identify regional public entities in charge of innovation policies and key innovation ecosystem players. It will then prepare a joint programme and four regional action plans to strengthen their innovation ecosystems in line with the New European Innovation Agenda.
PREPARE Consortium has focused on creating innovation procurement policies and instruments that can be effective and sustainable at the regional level but also relevant at the European level. Four European regions integrate the Consortium: Murcia (ES), Skåne (SE), Bucharest-Ilfov (RO) and Oulu (FI)
In the context of PREPARE, the focus has been on innovation procurement (innPr) approaches that are demand-driven (where the customer identifies the unmet need) and co-creative (where the solution is developed jointly between the customer and supplier). This does not preclude excluding other types, like the direct procurement of innovative solutions or others enabled by EU and national procurement laws or investigating other formats.
The PREPARE project has four main objectives:
• Connect and align four regional ecosystems to promote innovation procurement.
• Prepare a joint Programme and five Action Plans to increase growth and competitiveness.
• Gather information and react to policy and funding sources.
• Create and exploit knowledge assets.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

PREPARE has undertaken desktop research to identify resources of interest for policy and funding purposes. The state of the art document provides an extensive overview of InnPr and demand-driven innovation frameworks, as well as key policy programmes, funding sources and competitive call opportunities detailing its significance, and regional analysis of Bucharest (Romania), Oulu (Finland), Murcia (Spain) and Skåne (Sweden). As a result, will be easy to incorporate within the Joint Programme and the knowledge assets. The information was gathered from i) regional public bodies in charge of innovation policies and funding instruments and ii) innovation ecosystem players, which propose and execute projects. 1044 regional stakeholders were identified, and 398 participated actively in the interviews and any of the 19 workshops and focus groups organised. The result was delivering state-of-the-art learnings and best practices.
Following this, PREPARE has developed the Joint Programme and 4 Regional Action Plans to catalyse innovation-driven procurement across Europe, aiming to stimulate economic growth, improve public services, and enhance regional competitiveness. It serves as comprehensive guidelines for public entities and policymakers, offering a blend of theoretical and practical frameworks for adopting Innovation Procurement throughout multiple regions in the EU. The Joint Programme and the Regional Action plans provide actionable recommendations for regional stakeholders to incorporate innovation procurement into each region’s policy and increase its impact by leveraging EU initiatives and funding.The plan includes initiatives towards exploitation, covering capacity building and policy promotion at the EU, national, and regional levels, as well as the engagement of a network of EU regions interested in leveraging public procurement instruments to foster impactful innovation through collaboration with ERRIN and EURADA.
The work undertaken emphasises the crucial role of regional InnPr in fostering economic development and competitiveness. It calls on stakeholders to actively engage in and support these initiatives, highlighting the need for regional collaboration and streamlined processes for adopting innovation. This initiative-taking approach aims to position the public sector as a catalyst for innovation, ultimately benefiting European companies and communities .

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

a) PREPARE state-of-the-art on innovation procurement policy and potential funding sources. It has been required an extensive and close interaction and connection of the local ecosystem, including key innovation players from across the quadruple helix, all EU territories.
b) PREPARE joint long-term programmes and action plans fostering collaboration, common innovation-support activities, and the creation of shared knowledge assets…enhancing synergies and complementarities …and encouraging the alignment of their innovation policies. A) PREPARE Joint Programme as a strategic blueprint document that states why InnPr needs to be pursued at a regional level and B) Regional action plans prepared by each region validated with key stakeholders and innovation players via interviews and one focus group.
c) PREPARE knowledge base, including the innovation adoption library, an open container of documentation and resources that is publicly accessible and a public policy asset, including policy recommendations. The content was presented at a policy workshop in Brussels on November 28th, 2024.