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Procurement specialists urge public authorities to push forward with innovation

Council leaders, contractors and consultants were among over 200 guests to gather at the House of Lords in January for the launch of ‘The Art of the Possible in Public Procurement’ from the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre at Connected Places Catapult.

Council leaders, contractors and consultants were among over 200 guests to gather at the House of Lords in January for the launch of ‘The Art of the Possible in Public Procurement’ from the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre at Connected Places Catapult. 

Here, four procurement specialists closely involved in compiling and promoting the report explain why it makes for essential reading. 

Rikesh Shah, Head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre

“Around £70bn is spent by local authorities each year. The new Procurement Act reinforces the ability for councils to get better value for money with smarter spending. 

Every procurement has the potential to generate ideas and economic activity.

By further empowering authorities to understand procurement more fully, we can support more diverse and localised suppliers.

Local authorities face many pressing challenges: from addressing the climate emergency, to social care, security and health. The new Procurement Act builds public sector confidence and know-how, encouraging entrepreneurial approaches to shape and build markets. 

Procuring innovation can deliver better, cheaper, quicker and greener outcomes and create new innovative businesses to strengthen UK plc. It can also bring diversity of thought and creativity to solve some of our problems. 

Now is an opportunity to build on the progress of recent years and continue to reimagine what public procurement can do to further turn UK to competitive advantage, and be a strategic lever for growth.”

Rebecca Rees, Head of Public Procurement, Trowers & Hamlins and report co-author

“All too often, procurement is seen as a barrier to value, innovation and sometimes common sense. The Art of the Possible sees procurement as a launchpad for innovation, ideas and transformative conversation.

It has been very exciting to help write the report, which focuses on the possibilities that transforming public procurement reforms present to the public sector.  

We understand that clients are busy, cash strapped and often nervous about exploring new frontiers; be they new methods of delivery, technologies or even engaging with new market players. The report emphasis a need for clients to undertake key procurement activities whenever possible, including taking sufficient time to plan and prepare for their procurement; exploiting the benefits accrued through intelligent and focused engagement, and demanding challenging outcomes from bidders. 

The report also recognises the huge contribution and energy in the innovation agenda provided by small and medium-sized enterprises; who are often most at risk of procurement done badly.”

Julian Blake, Public Benefit Lawyer, Stone King and report co-author

“Problems with procuring innovation can be characterised very simply: many practices demonstrate ‘process’ over ‘purpose’. Focusing too closely on processes can distort the aims and objectives of what an authority is trying to achieve; and the beneficial outcomes of procuring innovation are no longer at the fore. Risk aversion with trying anything new is another issue.

When it comes to procuring innovation, there can be an assumption that the public authority or commissioner knows exactly what they are purchasing. But this is not always the case. The procurement mechanism needs to adapt to inform the public authority what a design might look like – and that means engaging with experts.

When you look at the principles of objectivity that procurement is supposed to realise, you need to think about how you can involve innovation experts at the earliest possible stage, and on a continuing basis. There is nothing in the law that stops authorities from doing this.”

Malcolm Harbour CBE, Associate Director, Connected Places Catapult and report co-author

“Public procurement is a powerful instrument in driving innovation, and is something that many professionals accept – so why has it not been adopted more fully? 

This report intends to break some of the myths of procurement, and encourage everyone who is investing public money in a contract to really think about what they want from it. Given the challenges local government is dealing with – constrained budgets, problems in meeting public expectations, dealing with zero carbon transitions, making places more resilient and efficient – we cannot continue doing the same things. 

We need to test the market, find people who can solve problems and construct projects in such a way as to bring more innovative businesses on board. This is all about attitude and leadership – and we need political leadership to move forward and deliver this innovation ambition. We cannot allow old perceptions about procurement to continue. Please read the report first before issuing your next tender.”

Rikesh Shah will be speaking at the Connected Places Summit on 20 March asking ‘What does the UK’s Procurement Bill mean for local innovation?’  

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Public spending holds untapped potential to unleash innovation

PRESS RELEASE: Experts explain how new procurement legislation can help public authorities leverage their purchasing power to drive innovation.

Connected Places Catapult, the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport, and place leadership, today published ‘The Art of the Possible in Public Procurement’ – a new report from the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC).

The report is co-authored by an expert team with experience in innovative legal and procurement processes and was unveiled at a House of Lords reception. It encourages council leaders, innovative teams in public authorities and ambitious businesses to take advantage of the new possibilities – reinforced by the Procurement Act 2023 – that can be used to drive innovation.

With approximately £300bn a year being spent on UK public procurement, public sector organisations have an indispensable role in fostering innovation and supporting ambitious small businesses. Local Government alone accounts for approximately £70bn of that spending which has huge potential to level-up economic growth and productivity in the UK.

The Procurement Act 2023 received royal assent on 26 October. In November, the Cabinet Office produced a guidance note ‘Transforming public procurement: our innovation ambition’ which outlined the intent that, ‘over time these developments will make public procurement into one of the most powerful levers to drive innovation nationally’. The authors of ‘The Art of the Possible’ set out ways in which this ambition can be achieved and how the new rules encourage more ways of engaging innovative companies during procurement processes. They highlight the importance of attracting innovative suppliers; cementing partnerships; ensuring transparency and value sharing; and transformative collaboration.

The report brings principles to life through case studies of procurement best practice, including:

• how TfL developed and incentivised a three-way partnership between carriers, innovators and themselves to reduce the adverse impact of freight with Freightlab;
• how Leicestershire Children’s Services used an innovative two-tier contractual framework to procure solutions that helped to achieve ambitious social and environmental goals;
• and how Staffordshire County Council used a joint tendering arrangement with neighbouring councils to increase their purchasing power and overcome their struggle securing a new sexual health service provider.

The report points to the introduction of the ‘competitive flexible procedure’ as the single biggest change implemented through the 2023 Act. The new procedure gives creative contractors a ‘wider palette of colours’ with which they can design procurement solutions. The authors also highlight the importance of assessment criteria favouring the ‘most advantageous tender’.

They point to wording from the National Procurement Policy Statement, which is included in the Act. ‘All contracting authorities should consider the following national priority outcomes alongside any additional local priorities in their procurement activities:

• creating new businesses, new jobs, and new skills.
• tackling climate change and reducing waste, and
• improving supplier diversity, innovation, and resilience.

Speaking at a reception at the House of Lords to mark the publication of the report, Rikesh Shah, Head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre at Connected Places Catapult said:

The Procurement Act 2023 reinforces the ability of public authorities to get better value for money by getting smarter with their spending. In recent years, technology has changed at such a rapid rate that new types of innovators are emerging. This is creating a huge opportunity for public authorities to unlock value. Every procurement made has the potential to support a new idea and generate new economic activity. By further empowering public authorities as they get smarter with spending, we can support more diverse suppliers and find more cost-effective, sometimes more localised, solutions to our biggest challenges.

Malcolm Harbour CBE, Associate Director at Connected Places Catapult and former Chair of the powerful European Parliament Internal Market Committee, said:

We all want public money to be well spent. But to maximise the power of every pound we need everyone involved in public procurement to show relentless ambition to enhance the impact of what they spend. We also need to have the courage to try new ways of doing things, and challenge suppliers to respond to procurement processes with fresh thinking.

Mr Harbour, who was awarded the CBE for services to the British economy, continued,

The very best procurement processes set challenging delivery targets, responding to national and regional priorities and stretching the innovative capability of suppliers.

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Leverage purchase power

PRESS RELEASE: Local authorities spend £60bn a year; they can now apply for fully-funded support to leverage their purchasing power in a way that supports new, innovative ideas.

IPEC is offering fully-funded and tailored innovation procurement support for up to five local authorities. The selected cohort will also benefit from the opportunity to network with and learn from each other as they progress along their innovation procurement journeys together. 

The support package will provide expertise from design thinking, market scouting and shaping to running trials, managing change and designing the right procurement processes to help take innovative ideas from the market, successfully scale them and add value.
In addition, the support will consider: how to improve stakeholder relations; SME engagement approaches; ways to overcome organisational and strategic problems; how to discover and shape challenges; attracting innovation; trial support; and risk management techniques.

IPEC is headed by newly appointed Rikesh Shah who was previously Head of Open Innovation at Transport for London for many years where his award-winning Innovation Hub applied different procurement routes to bring in innovation at scale from the market. 

Rikesh Shah, Head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre, said:  

UK local government procurement accounts for £60bn of spending each year. Local authorities have a huge opportunity to use this purchasing power to support new and innovative ideas in their regions. By bringing in new ideas from the diverse range of innovators from start-ups, SMEs, scale-ups, academia, corporates and others, it will enable local authorities to deliver faster, better and cheaper outcomes and create new value.

IPEC will help raise local authorities’ confidence and abilities, providing proactive support throughout a live end-to-end procurement process. If you have a desire to procure innovation, resources or sponsorship to speed up a culture shift in your council, and a buying budget to address an innovation challenge – then we would like to hear from you!”  

Local authorities have until 15 December to register their interest.  

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Innovation in public procurement: shaping the future of public services

Innovation in the public sector is about creating value: doing things better, cheaper or quicker. But it is not always about technology or building shiny new products.

Innovation in the public sector is about creating value: doing things better, cheaper or quicker. But it is not always about technology or building shiny new products.

There could also be a particularly knotty problem to solve or a strategic, emerging theme that needs addressing around policy, process or people. In all of these cases, I would encourage leaders to look at their issues through the lens of problem solving and innovation.

Currently the UK public sector spends over £300 billion on third party goods and services every year, so is in a great position to shape new markets through innovation. Innovation is critical to the public sector to ensure we can get more with our spend, and at the same time, create new innovative products that could be sold around the world.

Sometimes authorities fall into a trap of trying to do everything themselves, but public bodies need to work with the market to co-create new ideas and solutions. A key starting point is to define the problem and go out to the market with a mission focused approach and setting out the right conditions to successfully scale, which includes using the right procurement route to market.

Citizens demand more

Ultimately, it is important to innovate because our citizens expect more, and we in the UK are the engine room of creative innovation. In this regard, we are in a good place: barriers to entry for smaller companies wanting to try new ideas have reduced, and we are seeing more diversity of thought with different types of innovators entering the market.

If we embrace different thinking, we will be able to better represent the city, region or country we serve.

But challenges do remain. There is still a large aversion to risk: senior leaders potentially worry about what key stakeholders such as the media or politicians might say. The key is to put the right safeguards in place, engage early with stakeholders and objectively build the evidence through testing new ideas.

Another issue is the fear of failure. Change is generally hard, especially in the public sector and it is difficult to do anything new at scale. This fear must be overcome by winning hearts and minds internally and externally.

During my time as Transport for London’s head of open innovation, much was learnt about the role of data, and its value. The authority’s decision to open its data to app developers, for instance, meant that for every £1 spent, £130  in benefit was generated. At its peak, we had over 700 apps (businesses) creating new products through TfL data; our focus was to define the right challenges and produce the right supporting data – the market brought the innovation.

In a rapidly evolving landscape, the role of public services is undergoing a profound transformation. As we navigate the complexities of societal challenges, technological advances, economic shifts, new business models and environmental concerns, the need for innovation in public procurement has never been more critical. It is within this context that the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC) sets out on a mission to reshape the future of public services through helping to scale innovative procurement solutions from market innovators.

Unveiling the Power of Procurement as an Innovation Catalyst

Public procurement, often viewed as a bureaucratic necessity, possesses a latent power to drive innovation whether its funding from the market or new ideas, from the wide ecosystem of innovators from start-ups, academia, scale-ups, Venture Capitalists, corporates and many others. Traditionally bound by rigid procurement policies and procedures, doing everything internally and risk-averse cultures, procurement practices have been slow to adapt to the dynamic needs of our communities. At IPEC, we recognise that unlocking this potential requires a paradigm shift – a shift towards innovation-friendly procurement methods whether it’s a continuous improvement or a transformative change.

“Unlocking the true potential of public procurement requires a cultural shift—a move from risk aversion to innovation drive. At the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC), we believe in empowering public authorities to shape markets through identifying intractable problems and wield the diverse array of available tools, turning procurement into a dynamic force for positive change that delivers better, cheaper and quicker outcomes. Our mission-led approach, supported by robust research, new tools and techniques and a growing community of advocates, is paving the way for a future where public services are synonymous with progress, co-development, iteration, agility, and positive societal impact. Join us on this transformative journey, where innovation is not just encouraged but embedded in the very fabric of public procurement.”

Rikesh Shah, Head of the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC)

The Cultural Shift in local governments and public services: From Risk-Averse to Innovation-Driven

One of the primary challenges we aim to address is the cultural inertia within public procurement. A low appetite for risk and experimentation has, historically, hindered the exploration of alternative mechanisms available to public buyers. It’s not a lack of tools; it’s a hesitancy to wield them. IPEC stands as a catalyst for this shift in culture, advocating for a move from over-specification to embracing the diverse array of available innovative tools.

Numbers that Speak Volumes

Consider this: £63 billion is annually spent by UK local government on third-party service suppliers. Astonishingly, 23% of public tenders receive only one bid, highlighting a significant challenge in the public procurement landscape. Moreover, independent studies reveal that only a minimal 5% of businesses participating in procurement processes report that public procurement effectively incentivises innovation. This sheds light on the pressing need for a shift in the procurement paradigm, emphasising not a lack of innovative tools in public procurement, but rather the under exploitation of the available mechanisms.

IPEC’s Mission-Led Approach: A Blueprint for Change

IPEC’s Cohort Program, is designed and refined through collaborative efforts with councils and local authorities, are a testament to our commitment to catalyse change in public procurement. By providing mission-led support, we guide public authorities in integrating innovation-friendly procurement procedures and policies into their strategic agendas. Our approach isn’t just about changing processes; it’s about fostering a mindset that perceives procurement as a dynamic force for positive change.

Research and Evidence: A Cornerstone of Progress

To shift perceptions and practices, we recognise the importance of a robust evidence base. IPEC engages in original research, evaluation, and thought leadership initiatives to drive the narrative. By advancing the understanding of the adoption and diffusion effects of innovation procurement, we aim to build a compelling case for its greater use.

Building a Community of Advocates

Beyond programs and research, IPEC is about building a community – a network of advocates and empowered procurement enthusiasts who champion the cause of innovation in procurement. Through our digital platform, events, and publications, we aim to connect like-minded professionals and facilitate a continuous exchange of knowledge and insights.

The Road Ahead

As we embark on this journey, the road ahead is both exciting and challenging. In Year 2, we expand IPEC, fueled by additional resources and a growing community. Yet, our eyes are firmly set on the future. Year 3 holds promises of further growth, strategic innovation partnerships, and an unwavering commitment to driving positive change in the public procurement landscape. The journey of innovation in public procurement is not just about changing processes; it’s about redefining the narrative of public services. At IPEC, we invite all stakeholders to join us on this transformative journey, where procurement becomes a catalyst for a future where innovation is not just encouraged but embedded in the DNA of public services. Together, we shape a future where public procurement is synonymous with progress, agility, and positive societal impact.

Rikesh Shah participated in a recent Connected Places Catapult webinar tilted ‘Smarter Spending: the Power of Public Procurement to Drive Innovation and Growth’ from which this piece has been written. 

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Sparking innovation in the market: the role of expert support hubs

By adopting innovative solutions, the public sector can make services work better for people, and cut costs

In the UK’s drive for growth, we need to make full use of the lever that public procurement of innovation offers. In the past, the UK has not done that, but the Government is making important reforms to public procurement, which will be supported by an ambitious Learning and Development plan to ensure that public sector organisations have the knowledge, skills and models to grasp the opportunities created by reform. This new report shows that national and regional hubs focused on improving public procurement of innovation have a significant positive impact, delivering more for the public and rewarding innovation by businesses. A dedicated UK Innovation Procurement Hub would help to make sure that the programme for improvement includes building capability to procure innovation better.

The Innovation Procurement Hubs explored by this research are predominantly public sector-led. They offer information and advisory services and provide networking, all of which deliver value to procurement bodies and suppliers. There are differences between approaches, and quantitative assessment is ongoing, but the hubs deliver significant added value and there is strong support for their continuation.

The UK can learn from these examples, and select what approaches best fit our needs. A Hub would develop and share information and advice on innovation procurement. It would model and replicate successful approaches. It would accumulate learning and expertise over time, continually improving the efficiency of the delivery of the services. By acting primarily in a coordinating capacity, rather than seeking to direct centrally, it would minimise unnecessary duplication.

Innovation Procurement Hubs: Examples from Europe and beyond

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Sparking innovation in the market: the role of expert support hubs

In the UK’s drive for growth, we need to make full use of the lever that public procurement of innovation offers.

In the UK’s drive for growth, we need to make full use of the lever that public procurement of innovation offers. In the past, the UK has not done that, but the Government is making important reforms to public procurement, which will be supported by an ambitious Learning and Development plan to ensure that public sector organisations have the knowledge, skills and models to grasp the opportunities created by reform. This new report shows that national and regional hubs focused on improving public procurement of innovation have a significant positive impact, delivering more for the public and rewarding innovation by businesses. A dedicated UK Innovation Procurement Hub would help to make sure that the programme for improvement includes building capability to procure innovation better.

The Innovation Procurement Hubs explored by this research are predominantly public sector-led. They offer information and advisory services and provide networking, all of which deliver value to procurement bodies and suppliers. There are differences between approaches, and quantitative assessment is ongoing, but the hubs deliver significant added value and there is strong support for their continuation.

The UK can learn from these examples, and select what approaches best fit our needs. A Hub would develop and share information and advice on innovation procurement. It would model and replicate successful approaches. It would accumulate learning and expertise over time, continually improving the efficiency of the delivery of the services. By acting primarily in a coordinating capacity, rather than seeking to direct centrally, it would minimise unnecessary duplication.

Innovation Procurement Hubs: Examples from Europe and beyond

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Rikesh Shah: Give innovation a chance

Embracing new ideas can help to transform public service, says Connected Places Catapult’s new Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre head, Rikesh Shah.

Innovation in the public sector is about creating value: doing things better, cheaper or quicker. But it is not always about technology or building shiny new products.

There could also be a particularly knotty problem to solve or a strategic, emerging theme that needs addressing around policy, process or people. In all of these cases, I would encourage leaders to look at their issues through the lens of problem solving and innovation.

Currently the UK public sector spends over £300 billion on third party goods and services every year, so is in a great position to shape new markets through innovation. Innovation is critical to the public sector to ensure we can get more with our spend, and at the same time, create new innovative products that could be sold around the world.

Sometimes authorities fall into a trap of trying to do everything themselves, but public bodies need to work with the market to co-create new ideas and solutions. A key starting point is to define the problem and go out to the market with a mission focused approach and setting out the right conditions to successfully scale, which includes using the right procurement route to market.

Citizens demand more

Ultimately, it is important to innovate because our citizens expect more, and we in the UK are the engine room of creative innovation. In this regard, we are in a good place: barriers to entry for smaller companies wanting to try new ideas have reduced, and we are seeing more diversity of thought with different types of innovators entering the market.

If we embrace different thinking, we will be able to better represent the city, region or country we serve.

But challenges do remain. There is still a large aversion to risk: senior leaders potentially worry about what key stakeholders such as the media or politicians might say. The key is to put the right safeguards in place, engage early with stakeholders and objectively build the evidence through testing new ideas.

Another issue is the fear of failure. Change is generally hard, especially in the public sector and it is difficult to do anything new at scale. This fear must be overcome by winning hearts and minds internally and externally.

During my time as Transport for London’s head of open innovation, much was learnt about the role of data, and its value. The authority’s decision to open its data to app developers, for instance, meant that for every £1 spent, £130  in benefit was generated. At its peak, we had over 700 apps (businesses) creating new products through TfL data; our focus was to define the right challenges and produce the right supporting data – the market brought the innovation.

One of my recent projects was around procuring an e-scooter trial, and that involved using a completely new procurement route to the organisation which allowed us to introduce the scheme more swiftly and with the right safety measures in place.

Beware the hype

Unfortunately, there is also a lot of hype and a lack of understanding around certain innovations so it’s necessary for  public sector bodies to be an ‘intelligent client’ as sometimes, so it can accurately manage the hype. One example is the much touted ‘Generative AI’ – but does everyone really understand it?

A few years ago, people were talking about robotics, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing as if there was no question they were all the next big things. Of course, they have added immense value but it’s when the technology has been effectively applied. So, my previous team members haven’t focused on the technology that was used; they were interested in whether the problem had been defined, and explored the possible solutions building and refining in an iterative manner.

If robotics or AI is the answer, great – let’s test it. But my starting position is always: ‘Have we clearly articulated the problem?’ Only then should we go to the market to come up with solutions that may solve our challenges. We created a Design Thinking capability at TfL that spent a lot of time on defining and contextualising the problem, and not immediately running into solution-mode. Quite often they asked tough yet pertinent questions upfront to help set out the right conditions for success.

Assets fit for the future

I’m joining Connected Places Catapult at a really exciting time for innovation, when ideas from several different sectors are being transferred to other applications. But we have to be mindful that the assets we procure now will be around in many years’ time, so they have to be fit for the future, particularly at the rapid rate technology is advancing.

Horizon scanning exercises are useful to work out if new lamp posts in the street, for instance, could provide other services in the years to come such as interacting with connected vehicles or be an air quality sensor, rather than just a light. Also, how would this work if you are procuring 20,000 lamp posts?

Strategies and processes need to be right. Working with groups like Connected Places Catapult and the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre will mean clients are more likely to bring intelligence to the conversation.

The Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre will work with the public sector and the market to help create the right conditions for the public sector to be a leader in innovation through new capability support from procurement, design thinking, leadership and culture, horizon scanning and so forth.

Getting others on board

Innovative new ideas also need buy-in from people across an organisation to succeed. Heads of procurement and innovation need to work closely together to see what a pipeline of future work looks like over the next few years; to see where innovation could help with a challenge, and to ensure new approaches create value.

This can definitely be achieved: but a mindset shift is sometimes required. Public bodies must also ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent wisely; when it comes to innovation it doesn’t matter whether the spend is £10,000 or £100 million: good partnerships between innovation and procurement colleagues are essential.

If we get the right culture in place, I expect to see public bodies trying more new things and as a result creating more value in the long run. Some innovation will fail, but that’s the point: you don’t always know what’s going to happen with new concepts. If you go in with the right controls and safeguards in place, it’s okay to see things failing.

Creating this entrepreneurial mindset shift can be difficult – and that is what I’m hoping the new Procurement Bill going through Parliament can encourage. Finally, I would urge procurement leaders not to be scared to talk to the market about their problems: it is important to go out there early and see what innovative answers may be available.

Rikesh Shah participated in a recent Connected Places Catapult webinar tilted ‘Smarter Spending: the Power of Public Procurement to Drive Innovation and Growth’ from which this piece has been written.

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Sparking innovation through the market: a review of pioneering practice

Public procurement in the UK is failing to reach its potential as a driver of innovation and growth.

Public procurement in the UK is failing to reach its potential as a driver of innovation and growth. When Government spending accounts for roughly 39% (2018-19 figures) of the UK’s GDP, it is clear how large that potential is. In 2019, the figure was more than £292 billion and the value grows almost every year.

While complex factors contribute to this failure – such as a lack of clear and coordinated government policy, difficulty in getting stakeholders to buy into an idea, and capacity and capability bottlenecks – existing tools for the better use of public spending are being woefully underused.

Along with other European nations, the UK has strived to improve public procurement so that it goes beyond simply buying products and services. It wants public spending to stimulate new markets, achieve better value for money, meet citizens’ expectations and expand market opportunities for businesses of all sizes – goals that can fuel longer-term economic growth and increased public value. Indeed, the UK recently mandated that all public procurement activities should be developed with innovation outcomes in mind.

There are many ways of promoting ‘innovation procurement’: innovation partnerships, pre-commercial procurement and accelerators to name just three. These and other methods have been promoted by the European Union, while the UK government outlined its approach in the Transforming Public Procurement innovation procurement green paper published in December 2020.

Several programmes and platforms have also been established to encourage innovation procurement. Among these are GOVTECH Catalyst, the Mayor of London Innovation Challenges, Innovate UK, CIVTECH and ARIA. However, each of these operates in its own way and with slightly different objectives, causing difficulty for both suppliers and buyers.

This issue is compounded by the lack of a national competence centre in the UK – a notable absence because such bodies currently provide great value and coordination in five EU nations, with efforts underway to establish them in at least five more.

Responses to the green paper suggest it has its flaws (including insufficient consideration of SMEs and the need to confront lacklustre uptake by local authorities), but these should not trigger a ‘baby and bath water’ reaction. Within it are the foundations of a sound approach to promoting innovation procurement and untapping the UK’s latent potential.

This latest report from our work on innovation-friendly procurement looks at the benefits of treating public procurement as a strategic tool, available procedures and pioneering practice.

Innovation Procurement: Unlocking Best Practice for the UK

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Transforming public procurement: unleashing the potential for innovation

Connected Places Catapult, in collaboration with the Universities of Birmingham and Manchester, submitted a response to the government’s Green Paper on ‘Transforming Public Procurement’

The government recently conducted a consultation on their Green Paper for ‘Transforming Public Procurement’. Connected Places Catapult have compiled a response in partnership with our academic collaborators at the University of Birmingham (City REDI) and the University of Manchester (Manchester Institute of Innovation Research), bringing together our expertise on public procurement of innovation and regional development.

We welcome the promotion of strategic procurement as a powerful demand-side tool to promote investment into innovation and are enthused to see the Green Paper highlight the creation of “opportunities for innovative companies to win business and improve public services” as a central objective of these reforms. However, despite these ambitious goals the current proposals do not offer an integrated strategic vision to grasp these opportunities. We discuss the gaps in the proposed reforms and suggest some tangible actions to address these concerns.

Unleashing the power of public procurement to drive the growth of innovative businesses is crucial for a flourishing UK economy in the years ahead. We recognise the role of procurement in fostering vibrant innovation ecosystems and believe it is central Connected Places Catapult’s mission to support businesses to transform exciting ideas into valuable products and services. The proposed reforms offer tantalising new opportunities to leverage demand for improved public services to stimulate these outcomes, along with the social and economic benefits that arise from them. This joint response represents a collective ambition to drive positive change for public bodies and pioneering suppliers alike, and we look forward to continued evolution in this area.

Nicola Yates, CEO, Connected Places Catapult

Transforming public procurement: Connected Places Catapult’s green paper consultation response

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Transforming public procurement: Connected Places Catapult’s green paper consultation response – Executive Summary

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