KEINO – Competence Centre for Sustainable and Innovative Public Procurement started operation as of 1 March 2018. It is a network-based consortium comprising eight founding members, and funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment for 2018-2021.
KEINO seeks to increase contracting entities’ awareness of strategic procurement management and impact thinking, and will assist contracting entities in management tool development and measurement. The centre will support the development of procurement competence through advisory services, events and network meetings. The aim is also to promote peer learning among procurement professionals. It also seeks to strengthen international networks and peer to peer learning for procurers. One of the plans of KEINO is to set up a powerful and efficient buyer groups for procurement in the fields of social welfare and health services, construction and energy use, mobility and logistics, and bio- and circular economy.
Finnish Competence Centre website: https://www.hankintakeino.fi/en
The Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (MITA) is the main governmental institution, responsible for implementation of innovation policy in Lithuania. Briefly, it is a national innovation agency. MITA is currently setting a new competence centre in Lithuania, while already offering training and supporting public authorities in using pre-commercial procurement.
MITA provides free of charge services for clients from business, science and public sectors, interested in possibilities to develop strong cooperation relations with international partners and get financial support for research and innovation projects. MITA also promotes business and science cooperation, commercialisation of research and protection of intellectual property rights. And last, but not least, welcomes innovators, inventors, entrepreneurs, businessmen, intellectuals, researchers and other individuals, which have innovative ideas and are not afraid of risk.
Lithuanian Competence Centre website: https://mita.lrv.lt/en/
