Public Buyers Co-Create Charging and Energy Infrastructure Solutions for the Green Transition

How can Europe’s public buyers accelerate the rollout of smart, flexible, and shared charging infrastructure to meet their climate-neutrality targets? This question was at the heart of the BBWT Hackathon on Charging and Energy Infrastructure for the Green Transition, held in Oslo on 13–14 May 2025. 

The event brought together over 20 public procurement professionals and city representatives from across Europe to discuss strategies for the development of actionable solutions to one of the most complex bottlenecks in the green transition: how to procure and manage energy infrastructure that enables the electrification of construction, transport, and public services. 

A shared challenge, a structured response 
The event was the first in a new series of “Idea Hackathons” organised under the Big Buyers Working Together (BBWT) project, funded by the European Commission, and co-hosted by the City of Oslo, Eurocities, ICLEI, and BME. 

The goal was clear: to provide a structured, hands-on space where procurement experts could co-develop innovative ideas to overcome the real-world barriers they face when procuring charging and energy infrastructure. These include grid capacity limits, lack of interoperability, winter reliability, and the need to share both infrastructure and risk. 

Participants worked in parallel groups address four key challenges: 

1. Sharing procurement experiences to reduce risk
2. Facilitating higher utilisation and sharing of infrastructure
3. Incentivising energy-efficient solutions
4. Promoting flexible charging solutions like mobile stations 

“Visioning 2030” and retro-planning  

Participants were first invited to articulate their long-term vision: what would an ideal energy infrastructure look like in 2030, and how could public procurement help make it a reality? 

Shared aspirations emerged quickly: 

• Seamless, fast, and interoperable access to charging across regions
• Smarter energy use through demand/response and off-peak charging
• Mobile solutions to support temporary needs
• A stronger culture of learning from each other, including on what hasn’t worked 

This future-oriented thinking laid the foundation for developing concrete concepts that could be tested and scaled. 

Four concepts for collaborative procurement innovation 

🧠 1. Tower of Knowledge 
 A self-guided, AI-assisted podcast tool enabling public buyers to reflect on and share experiences from their procurement projects. Users would record voice memos answering structured questions, and AI then would generate summaries that could  be uploaded to a searchable platform. 
Key takeaway: Making learning accessible requires low-entry tools that respect users’ time while capturing nuanced experience, including failure. 

📍 2. HITCH (Harmonised Infrastructure for Transport Charging and Handling) 
 A shared digital platform with an interactive map that couldo coordinate the use of heavy-duty vehicle charging stations across cities and regions. The platform would include booking tools, payment systems, and real-time data. 
Key takeaway: Sharing infrastructure across jurisdictions requires clear governance, interoperability, and public trust. 

🔌 3. FlexCharge Challenge 
A three-year, pan-European design competition for smart charging solutions. It would starts with a concept challenge in 2025, moves to prototyping in multiple cities in 2026, and would end with full-scale piloting in 2027. 
Key takeaway: Innovation needs structured incentives, early-stage funding, and buy-in from public buyers and fleet operators alike. 

🃏 4. Tender Tinder 
 A board game designed to improve market dialogue between public procurers and suppliers. Players would role-play stakeholder interactions and would co-develop solutions to complex procurement scenarios. 
Key takeaway: Gamified tools can build mutual understanding, provided they are well contextualised and supported by strong facilitation. 

 What made this event different? 

Rather than presentations and panels, the hackathon followed a structured design sprint methodology, encouraging co-creation, prototyping, and hands-on testing. This approach allowed participants to move from abstract problems to practical concepts in just two half-days. 

A walking tour of Oslo’s charging infrastructure, including shared charging stations for heavy-duty vehicles and ships, as well as a zero-emission construction site, also provided concrete inspiration from the host city. 

A pre-event survey also helped align participants around common barriers and aspirations. Among the “pain points” shared were slow permitting procedures, fragmented operational responsibilities, grid bottlenecks, and the lack of investment incentives. Visions included fast-charging access everywhere, an “EV Schengen Zone” for charger access across borders, and better alignment between procurement and climate goals. 

Lessons learned 

Several cross-cutting lessons emerged from the group work and final reflections: 

• Keep it simple: Tools must be easy to use, with clear value and low entry barriers.
• Own it together: Neutral or public ownership models build trust and encourage wider adoption.
• Learn by doing: Testing ideas locally before scaling helps refine them and build political buy-in.
• Gamification works, when purposeful: Interactive tools like “Tender Tinder” can make abstract processes concrete and accessible.
• Failures are valuable: Sharing what didn’t work is essential to progress. As one participant put it, “Are you emissions-free, or ambition-free?” 

 
The transition to zero-emission construction and transport will not be achieved by technology alone. Public procurement is a strategic lever, and events like this hackathon demonstrate the power of collaboration to unlock shared solutions. 

The ideas developed (Tower of Knowledge, HITCH, FlexCharge, and Tender Tinder) are not finished products, but they are concrete starting points. With the right follow-up and political support, they could become part of a new ecosystem of public-sector innovation for the green transition. 

Check out more in the final report here.