CEPPI (Coordinated energy-related Public Procurement of Innovation) aimed to demonstrate how European cities can make more rapid progress towards achieving their energy-related objectives through the strategic use of public procurement and specifically through the adoption of pro-innovation procurement methods. Representatives of five city authorities of different sizes and cultures (Birmingham, Budapest, Castellon, Valencia and Wroclaw) participated in what became very much a ‘Living Lab’ by adopting and, where necessary, adapting public procurement of innovation (PPI) methodologies in forthcoming tenders.
The project also aimed to build capacity in these cities on how to achieve more sustainable energy solutions through a pro-innovation procurement approach. The scope of the project included working with wider energy using stakeholders in the city in addition to addressing the direct energy used by the city authority.
The specific objectives of CEPPI were to:
1. Identify and quantify future investment and procurement plans in participating cities that could be influenced to achieve a lower energy and/or CO2 outcome
2. Develop and implement a practical procurement support programme that will build organisational capacity in city authorities in smart, sustainable, innovation procurement through action learning activities and thus progressively influence their procurement processes both during the period of the project and beyond
3. Implement at least one PPI project in each of the five cities with the combined potential to reduce primary energy consumption by at least 33 GWh/year
4. Develop procurement roadmaps to identify public tenders that might be ripe for more ambitious energy-related PPI projects after the end of the project
5. Engage with the Climate KIC network to explore what current and emerging technologies can offer more sustainable energy solutions for upcoming tenders in the medium/longer term
6. Produce an evidence-based Guide to communicate the lessons and methodologies to other cities and launch at a suitable European Conference