PREPARE · An EU-wide springboard for regional implementation of innovation procurement

This project is a preparatory action for creating innovation procurement policies and instruments that can be effective and sustainable at regional level, but also relevant at European level. The preparatory work will be achieved by using four European regions that cover the full range of innovation performances defined by the EC’s Regional Innovation Scoreboard as development sites: Murcia (ES), Skåne (SE), Bucharest-Ilfov (RO) and Oulu (FI).During the project, the project consortium will:1.Gather information from i) regional public bodies in charge of innovation policies and funding instruments, and ii) innovation ecosystem players, which propose and execute projects, using state of the art learnings and best practices.2.Analyse this information to produce a Joint Programme and four regional Action Plans to incorporate innovation procurement to each region’s policy and increase its impact by leveraging EU initiatives and funding.The PREPARE consortium will produce and widely disseminate added-value results, including a knowledge asset on the state of the art of innovation procurement and policy recommendations. Exploitation initiatives will deliver capacity building, policy promotion at EU, national and regional level and the engagement of a network of EU regions interested in leveraging public procurement instruments to foster impactful innovation.