Activities Performed and Main Achievements
The ECLIPSE project was designed to address structural barriers that limit the uptake of innovation procurement in Europe by improving interactions among public procurers, innovative SMEs and start-ups, and private investors. The technical and scientific work focused on understanding the needs and constraints of these stakeholder groups, designing a new participatory model for innovation procurement, developing dedicated support tools and services, and validating the proposed solutions through training activities and real-life experimentation.
A first major activity consisted of analysing the innovation procurement ecosystem and identifying the main barriers affecting public procurers, start-ups, SMEs and investors. Through stakeholder interviews, benchmarking activities and ecosystem analysis, the project identified recurrent challenges including: limited participation of innovative SMEs and start-ups in procurement procedures; risk aversion among public procurers;
lack of understanding of procurement opportunities within the investment community; weak connections between public procurement processes and innovation financing mechanisms.
Based on this analysis, the consortium developed the ECLIPSE Participatory Model, a new interaction framework designed to facilitate collaboration among public authorities, innovative suppliers and investors throughout the innovation procurement lifecycle. The model introduced mechanisms for involving investors in procurement-related innovation processes and provided a structured approach to supporting the transition of innovative solutions from development to commercialisation.
Building on the Participatory Model, the project developed the NAVIGATOR framework, an integrated support system composed of advisory services, methodologies, training resources, risk assessment approaches and digital tools.
The NAVIGATOR framework was designed to address the specific needs of three target groups: Public procurers requiring support in designing and implementing innovation procurement initiatives; Innovative SMEs and start-ups seeking easier access to procurement opportunities; Investors interested in identifying procurement-related innovation opportunities and supporting market deployment.
