EIC to launch 2024-2025 edition of the European Innovation Procurement Awards

On 26 June, the European Commission will officially launch the 2024-2025 edition of the European Innovation Procurement Awards. Winners in each category will receive up to EUR 75,000.

Public procurement of innovation stimulates the transformation of research results and ideas into innovative solutions. It represents untapped potential to drive demand for innovation, positively impacting private spending on research and innovation activities, and enhancing the success of commercialising new solutions. By implementing dedicated strategies to promote and increase the uptake of innovation procurement, both public and private sectors can provide state-of-the-art services and goods to society, while offering new opportunities for growth to disruptive solution providers, particularly start-ups and SMEs.

The European Union recognises the importance of innovation procurement as a tool to modernise the public sector, strengthen Europe's industrial competitiveness, and address key societal challenges such as climate change and the transition to a sustainable net-zero economy.

The new European Agenda for Innovation sets out a vision to harness the power of innovation to foster economic growth, social progress, and environmental sustainability in Europe. The Agenda underlines the need for strategic investment in key technologies, including deep technologies, and for closer cooperation between public and private sector actors to stimulate innovation and accelerate the deployment of new solutions.

In this context, the societal challenge for the 2024-2025 European Innovation Procurement Awards will focus on the "Net Zero" economy, in line with the EU's commitment to achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. The prizes will recognise public and/or private procurers, individuals, and/or legal entities that support the transition to a sustainable, zero-emission economy through innovation procurement and foster innovation in key sectors such as energy, transport, construction, and manufacturing.

You can apply for one of two prize categories:

• One focuses on rewarding innovation procurement initiatives that help Europe in its transition towards a Net Zero economy.
• The other is open to innovation procurement initiatives addressing any challenge where innovation has had an impact.

Both prize categories are open to projects in any sector (e.g., health, transport, energy, environment, water, construction, security, education, manufacturing, ICT, etc.). 

The prize competition is open to various types of initiatives in the field of public procurement:

• R&D procurement
• Procurement of innovative solutions
• Initiatives that trigger multiple innovation procurements (e.g., innovation procurement programs set up by procurers themselves or by policymakers in their city/region/country).

The European Innovation Procurement Award (EUIPA) recognises exemplary public and private buyers (contracting entities) for applying innovation procurement practices across Europe. It aims to support the community of European contracting authorities in exchanging, cooperating, and inspiring each other to design innovative procurement procedures, particularly in providing modern and efficient public services.

For more information, visit the EUIPA website. 

To promote the competition to your network on social media, please repost/like this LinkedIn post and Twitter/X post about the prize competition.