Abstract:

What had been the results of 30 years of supply-side incentives?
The intention is to discuss why supply-side innovations incentives typically fail to overcome the “market failure”, revealing a negative crowding-out effect.

How to change in perspective is needed to move from traditional “push” and “market-driven” strategies to more effective “pull” and “really demand-driven”?

Following the logic of traditional tendering and contracting, the public procurer if it decides to purchase innovative solutions, it must take on board all the technological risk of the supply. Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) and the complementary Public procurement of innovation (PPI), are aimed to filter the risk of complex investments while enabling risk-benefit sharing mechanism.

Innovation procurement is an end-to-end process substantiated on a contract capable to enable all the potential benefits from innovation and competition, as well as contributes to breaking down the barriers to the adoption of innovative products and services linked to the historical advantages of solutions already available on the market while sending a clear signal (also) for private users.

The EU legal framework and instruments for innovation public procurement are going to be presented, demonstrating which opportunities they provide for optimally achieving the goal of enhancing competitiveness and efficiency in public spending, as well as to open the discussion on inter-administrative cooperation, exploring the additional consequences deriving from the perspective of cross-border procurement and the several layers of legal provisions involved interplay.

Aligned with the experience gathered on the participation of IMAILE (Innovative Methods for Award Procedures of ICT learning in Europe), the first Pre-Commercial Procurement project in Europe in the field of Education and Technology and now the current participation on the LEA (Learning Technology Accelerator) project whose goal is to accelerate knowledge transfer, dialogue and awareness raising of innovative procurement within the learning technology sector, there will be a particular focus on the innovation procurement action under the education sector.

Keywords:

Innovation procurement, PCP, PPI, education, incentives.