On November 22nd and 23rd, iBuy project partners met in Lamia (Greece) to, on the one hand, review all the actions carried out since the beginning of the project in June and, on the other hand, share with the consortium the link between their smart specialisation strategy (RIS3) and innovative public procurement (IPP). This component is essential, for IPP, as key instrument to promote innovation, must be aligned to the needs and priorities of the region/country, and follow the logic of the entrepreneurial discovery process, all under the RIS3 scope.
It was identified that, regardless the degree of maturity of the IPP policies of each region/country in the partnership, the vast majority shared common thematic objectives (like health and welfare and mobility) as priorities both in their respective RIS3 and potential (or actual) IPP instruments. This is relevant, for under this findings, the partnership can focus on using examples or benchmarking pilot actions on fields in which they share common interest, which can give them further inputs towards the design of action plans to improve their instruments.
All partners concurred with the necessity to boost their IPP instrument in their regions/countries, and to engage the stakeholders to better understand IPP, the possibilities it offers, and the large dimension it can achieve to foster investments in innovation, both from public and private sides, especially under the RIS3 priorities.
