PRESS RELEASE:
3rd PPI2Innovate Days, Székesfehérvár
Central Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency (CTRIA – Lead Partner of the project) in cooperation with project partner - Somogy County Government organized the 3rd PPI2Innovate Days within the PPI2Innovate Interreg Central Europe programme on Tuesday 14th of May, 2019.
The event was hosted by the Hotel Magyar Király in Székesfehérvár. The event aimed to provide a meeting place for public procurers, innovative SMEs, research and development institutions and other relevant stakeholders that are interested in using public procurement of innovation tool - PPI.
The event intended to present public procurement of innovation as a procurement strategy that can be an essential tool for public procurers to boost local innovation. It was highlighted how cooperation between procurers and local suppliers can contribute to innovation.
The event was opened by the Chairman of Somogy County Government – Norbert Biró, who briefly explained what steps Somogy County Government made to improve local innovation. Then, Ákos Szépvölgyi from Lead Partner (CTRIA) presented the project, its goal and activities and described what is PPI and what is not.
After that, Francesca La Greca a guest speaker from Municipality of Turin, Italy showed to participants how City of Torino is dealing with public procurement of innovation. In her presentation, she highlighted the possibilities of European projects, that provide essential learning opportunity for decision-makers, public procurers and even to local suppliers. Therefore, mutual learning, networking, and exchange of knowledge should be supported, and local governments should be open to new ideas, new procedures.
The next speaker, Gaynor Whyles came from the United Kingdom. As an expert of the topic, she presented public procurement of innovation from various different angles. In her view PPI is a demand side measure to boost innovation and support to take actions against climate change. She has presented few examples how change in local demand could trigger difference. She showed to participants the change in automobile industry in the 1970th in California and how a United Kingdom based water supply company seeked for innovation to become eco-friendlier.
After the coffee break, a Hungarian attorney-at-law and a procurement expert, Ágnes Hubai presented the legal background of PPI implementation in Hungary. She encouraged public procurers to be open to new ways of procurement, as it is possible according to Hungarian law. In the followings, István Csizmadia from the Hungarian National Healthcare Service Centre presented how PPI can be adopted in the healthcare sector in Hungary.
Their presentation was followed by a Croatian Agency – REA Sever. Denis Premec explained how they are dealing with PPI within the project of Prominent Med. They implemented PPI in school renovations and worked effectively in promoting PPI among decision-makers.
Marlene Grauer came from Germany, and shared her experiences on how the process of procurement was renewed in her country, and how public procurement of innovation is used for boosting innovation in Germany.
The event was closed by presentations from pilot projects and a panel discussion by project partners to show to participants what are the challenges and perspectives of PPI in the Central European Region.
