Procurement of Innovation platform

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17 October 2019

Procure2Innovate presented at the European Week of Regions and Cities 2019

How to turn innovative public procurement from an underused option to a powerful boost for innovation in energy? This question was discussed in the workshop organised in the frame of the EWRC 2019, by the Smart Specialisation Platform on Energy (S3PEnergy), a joint initiative of DG REGIO, DG ENER and JRC. The event took place last Wednesday 9th.

The main aim of the workshop was to help public authorities, procurers, policymakers, researchers and other stakeholders harness the power of innovation procurement to facilitate more quickly a clean energy transition, in line with the Energy Union strategy, and at the same time create opportunities for their local companies. Rafael Hirt, from ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, presented the Procure2Innovate Network and its aim, to improve institutional support for public procurers of information and communication technologies (ICT), since ICT solutions are also suitable for the energy sector.

Representatives from different regions and organisations presented interesting examples of innovation procurement initiatives carried out in Europe with ESIF, in the context of smart specialisation. The audience, mainly public procurers in the energy sector, was also informed about other initiatives, tools and guidance.