Marketplace for Innovation Procurement

Pre-Commercial Procurement leading innovation processes

The Marketplace for Innovation Procurement has been established on the basis of the Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) initiatives.

The Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP), as defined by the European Commission, is an approach to public procurement of research and development (R&D) services. PCP challenges industry from the demand side to develop innovative solutions for public sector needs and it provides a first customer reference that enables companies to create competitive advantage on the market.[1]

Thus, although still unknown by the majorities, the PCP initiatives aim to foster the development of innovative technologies, allowing the demand side to identify specific criticalities or gaps which have not been addressed by the market yet, and on the other hand, it allows the supply side to create cutting-edge solutions to fill and strengthen these markets gaps.

This innovative leading-edge approach will:

• provide first customer references for innovative companies;
• allow the access of new innovative players to the public procurement markets;
• create well-grounded conditions for wider commercialisation and take-up of R&D results;
• support start-ups and SMEs to launch and grow;
• act as a “seal of approval” for innovative companies and solutions, confirming the market potential or new emerging technologies, and
• thereby attract new investors and new costumers.

Marketplace for Innovation Procurement

Within this framework, pendulating between growing technological innovation – particularly triggered by SMEs and start-ups – and continuously evolving procurers’ needs, the Marketplace for Innovation Procurement has positioned itself to facilitate and strengthen the Procurement initiatives allowing a smooth and easy encounter between the demand and the supply side.

Why is the Marketplace for Innovation Procurement a win-win?

The Marketplace has been set up as living and growing online eco-system, showcasing existing products, solutions and services and fostering international cooperation among the suppliers. In this way, procurers and end-users will be provided with comprehensive overviews on the existing solutions and products. It has therefore, the ambitious scope of serving big and differentiated portions of the market.By doing so, the Marketplace for Innovation Procurement can be considered a win-win for both, the suppliers and the procurers, since it creates from one side, a comprehensive eco-system for technical innovation and proposals for the suppliers, and on the other side, an informative hub for the demand-driven end-users.

Marketplace for Innovation Procurement State-of-the-Art

The Marketplace for Innovation Procurement has been firstly established as part of the *iProcureSecurity PCP project. [2]

It has been designed to provide suppliers with the option to register their organisations, showcase products and solutions – as well as additional relevant documents – and to match interests, and services with other suppliers and relevant partners.

In addition to that, and following the specifications of the iProcureSecurity PCP project, the online Marketplace for Innovation Procurement included among its features the tender submission and tender evaluation system. The embedded system serves as transparent, intuitive and easy-to-use evaluation process for tenders and, as such, it promotes also an unbiased selection of offers.

In its initial phase, the Marketplace has launched the Innovation Procurement Platform, which focuses – due to the project scope – mostly on the EMS (Emergency Medical Service) sector.

Following the needs and specifications of the iProcureSecurity PCP project, the Innovation Procurement Platform will serve the different organizations in:

✔️ Matching and connecting with other suppliers

✔️ Monitoring and checking several tenders

✔️ Getting informed, updated and guided throughout the creation of the proposals

✔️ Submitting Open Tender Proposals

By following simple and automatic steps, the organisations will be able to access the Innovation Procurement Platform services, such as:

The products and services pages showcase the already existing solutions and products provided by the registered organisations. Procurers are able to scroll the page and have an overview of all the solutions and products available. Furthermore, this section allows to get in contact with the suppliers. This feature facilitates the encounter between the suppliers, fostering cooperation and consortia creation. From the procurer’s side, the “Leave a Message” button allows a direct contact with the suppliers and an easier flow of information.

The tender section provides an overview on forthcoming, open and closed call for tenders related to innovation procurement in different domains. Relevant information such as the tender requirements, tender type, contract type, budget, deadline, contact and language of tenders can be found on the tender’s detail pages that will support the supplier on the process of finding relevant tenders.

Also, the link to the tender announcement can be found to access more information on the tender itself. Suppliers have the opportunity to use the Expertise Offer / Expertise Request functionality to form partnerships with other suppliers and jointly approach upcoming tenders.

To know more on the iProcureSecurity Call for Tender, check the article “The iProcureSecurity PCP project launches a Call for Tender”

Overall, every entity (suppliers, tenders, services, products) benefits of a listing page and a detail page. The listing page presents all available entity items with an item picture and item name, a filter bar and a search bar that let the user efficiently sort and find the solutions the user is interested in.

The detail page displays all information of the selected item in a structured way and with a user-friendly design so that the user can easily find any information needed and contact the organisation responsible for the item.

To get more information on the Marketplace for Innovation Procurement click on https://innovationprocurement.com/about

To join the Innovation Procurement Platform, click on the following link
https://innovationprocurement.com/