Three new EU-funded public procurement networks will soon help public organisations acquire the latest cutting-edge goods and services lead markets have to offer; thereby serving citizens, stimulating innovation, tackling societal challenges and enhancing the EU’s competitiveness at a time of global economic crisis.

Three new trans-national specialised networks of public procurers are being launched under the European Union's Lead Market Initiative. Each of them will receive about €1 million. Two of the networks will focus their activities on the sustainable construction theme and the third will be devoted to protective textiles.

The SCI-Network - Sustainable Construction and Innovation Network - will help public authorities exploit and drive sustainable innovations in construction across Europe. It will base its work on public construction projects and is designed to help combat the cross-border fragmentation of the European construction sector. It also aims to develop clear guidance and case studies, carry out training activities and improve the knowledge and skills of public-sector procurers.

Similarly, the LCB-HealthCare - Low Carbon Building - network will seek to stimulate innovative low-carbon building solutions for the healthcare sector, since buildings account for some 40% of CO₂ emissions in the EU, and hospitals and clinics are particularly energy intensive. For the healthcare sector, not only are the incentives to reduce carbon and energy costs considerable, the sector also provides a highly managed professional environment which facilitates innovative solutions.

The third network, ENPROTEX - European Network of Protective Textiles - seeks to spark innovation through public procurement to meet the future needs of fire services. The methods it will employ include promoting co-operation amongst public procurers and providing an interface between end-users and manufacturers. In particular, the project will aim to stimulate industry with future procurement opportunities.

Bridging the knowledge gap

This is the first time the European Commission has funded specialised procurement networks dedicated to innovation. Although public procurement represents around 16% of the EU's GDP, it is only recently that its potential as a stimulator of innovation has been recognised, in particular under the Lead Market Initiative. However, mobilising this recognition into effective action requires buyers and suppliers to understand each other better. "There is currently a knowledge gap separating public procurers and innovative suppliers," explains Peter Dröll, head of the European Commission's Innovation Policy Development Unit.

To bridge this divide, the three EU-backed public procurement networks become operational from September 2009. They aim to enable public procurers at all levels - national, regional, metropolitan and local - to enhance their market-specific knowledge of the innovative solutions which are available, or are being developed by suppliers, in some of the lead-market areas established by the European Commission. This will allow a better coordinated and articulated dialogue with suppliers about the future needs of public procurers. In turn, the participants will be able to realise the benefits of European co-operation in exchanging experience in procurement practices and in undertaking joint or coordinated actions.

"The new networks will help public procurers to become 'smart' purchasers and innovative enterprises to become 'smart' suppliers," notes Dröll. "The networks are a way of helping procurers to deliver better public services for the benefit of citizens, and to help innovative enterprises fulfil their potential, which also benefits citizens by creating jobs and economic growth. It is also a way to help innovative enterprises in new markets, where demand is not well structured, such as in the green economy sectors. And finally, if public procurers can properly signal their future requirements, this would be a tremendous stimulus to innovation by suppliers across Europe."

Responding to the economic crisis

The global economic crisis has placed enormous pressure on the world economy, including that of the EU. Carefully targeted public procurement can help pull the EU out of the slump and sharpen its competitiveness by supporting innovative enterprises. "Public procurement can provide innovative SMEs with a lifeline in these troubled economic times, and help Europe maintain or build a lead in innovative sectors that can create future growth," Dröll observes. Indeed, the relevance of the Lead Market Initiative is recognised by the Swedish Presidency, who will include this topic in their major conference on Sustainable Industry (web archive), in Linkoping on 2-3 November 2009.

'Lead markets' point the way to future possibilities through the introduction of highly innovative goods and services. The EU's ambitious Lead Market Initiative (LMI), launched in 2007, seeks to stimulate and nurture innovative sectors of high societal and economic value. The LMI focuses on six key sectors: sustainable construction, technical textiles for intelligent personal protective clothing and equipment, bio-based products, recycling, e-health, and renewable energy.

These new networks can help shed light on the way forward for harnessing public procurement to stimulate European innovation. "These experiments are highly relevant to public authorities at all levels across Europe and to businesses that want to innovate," concludes Dröll.