At the recent SIPE Conference, held on 18th June in Brussels, expert speakers shared key recommendations aimed at strengthening innovation procurement across Europe. In this article we propose a selection of the best strategies aimed at paving the way for innovation adoption in cities across Europe.

This article highlights a few cases which have made significant progress in embedding innovation procurement as a standard practice within their public sectors. Lieve Bos from the European Commission shared insights on how Poland and Czech Repuplic have made innovation procurement a standard practice, integrating it into their public procurement policies and thereby driving significant advancements in public services. The article also dives into the successful PPI Competence Centres established in these countries, but also in the BUILD Project’s consortium area. 

Collaboration and innovation are two driving forces that can significantly transform public procurement, making it more efficient and aligned with strategic goals. This article explores the key lessons from the SIPE (Scaling-Up Innovation Procurement in Europe) Conference, and their implications for public procurement policymakers.

This article delves into the key insights shared during the SIPE (Scaling-Up Innovation Procurement in Europe) Conference on how to effectively equip public buyers with the necessary skills, knowledge, and tools to embrace innovation in their procurement practices.

The IPTF (Innovation Procurement Task Force) Conference, held in Brussels on June 18, 2024, brought together leading voices in the field of Innovation Procurement, to discuss strategies for scaling it  up across Europe. This article highlights the key takeaways from the conference, emphasising the importance of making innovation procurement a standard practice rather than an exception, to drive modernisation and fostering economic growth across the continent.

The BUILD project’s series of staff exchanges culminated in a wealth of collective learnings. These exchanges transitioned theoretical knowledge of innovative procurement into insightful tools. They could be implemented in home processes, leveraging the best of each other’s procurement strategies. Would you be interested in discovering these strategies, insights and  success cases, they are now available in the newly released Staff Exchanges Report. 

Renowned for its innovative spirit and experimental urban projects, Rotterdam recently hosted a staff exchange as part of the BUILD project. It boasts to be the second largest city in The Netherlands, and the largest city within the BUILD project consortium. Thus, the exchange provided a unique opportunity for procurement professionals to learn from Rotterdam’s cutting-edge practices.

Tartu is an Estonian city with approximately 100,000 inhabitants. Its Municipality doesn’t have a separate procurement department. Despite that, Tartu showcases that size does not limit the capacity for innovation. As the smallest municipality participating in the BUILD project, the recent staff exchange demonstrated its ability to lead in public procurement of innovation.

The sixth largest city in Finland, Turku’s population amounts to just over 200,000 citizens. Our partner procurers from the Municipality of Turku and Valonia recently hosted the inaugural staff exchange of the BUILD project here. This event brought together procurement professionals from Rotterdam and Tartu, highlighting the benefits of learning from diverse municipal approaches while addressing shared challenges.

Innovation procurement is a key mechanism for governments and cities to encourage innovation, aligning with economic, environmental, and social policy objectives. However, it is often unclear what innovation truly entails. And how it is possible to break the traditional procurement frame with innovative solutions. BUILD’s public procurers gathered to exchange the best strategies on innovation adoption. So, what does it take to organise a successful procurers’ exchange?