The programme of the 11th Procura+ Conference 2024, taking place from 13-14 March in Lisbon (Portugal) is shaping up to provide a diversity of perspectives on how green, social, innovation and circular public procurement is implemented throughout Europe. The inspiring sessions and speakers will showcase how public buyers can use their purchasing power to contribute to a more sustainable, circular and resilient society.
On 13 March the Conference will be opened by Carlos Moedas, the Mayor of Lisbon and Katrin Stjernfeldt Jammeh, the Mayor of Malmö and Chair of the Procura+ Network. They will highlight how public authorities can use procurement to make step changes that will have a big impact on the transformation of our societies. During this opening session, the Mayors will be joined on stage by Janez Potocnik (EU Commissioner for Environment from 2009 to 2014, and, currently co-chair of the UNEP International Resource Panel), as well as by Abby Semple (Public Procurement Analysis) and Erika Bozzay (Senior Policy Adviser, Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division, OECD)
More in-depth discussions will follow during the five deep dive sessions, respectively on Socially Responsible Public Procurement (SRPP), innovation procurement, circular procurement, food procurement and the procurement of sustainable and innovative outcomes in infrastructure and building projects. The final session of the first day will explore how professional development, upskilling, and change management is crucial for the advancement of strategic and sustainable public procurement. The session will be led by Erika Bozzay and Alexandra Vandevyvere of Circular Flanders. The day will end with the reveal of the 2024 Procura+ Award winners in the categories Sustainable Procurement of the Year, Innovation Procurement of the Year and Procurement Initiative of the Year, and a celebratory dinner.
Being ambitious and innovative doesn’t automatically lead to success, which is why the second day of the Conference begins with a session led by Paul Louis Iske, Chief Failures Officer at the Institute for Brilliant Failures. The session will allow public buyers to confess their mistakes and show that step changes leading to a big impact are sometimes only possible if the right lessons are learnt from mistakes. The closing session, led by Mayor Moedas, will explore how public procurement can deal with and influence contemporary challenges (such as inflation, geopolitical turmoil, sourcing disruption and changes in national and European policy frameworks) to gain even more strategic importance.
Participants will also have plenty of opportunities for discussing collaboration and networking. On both days there will be a Market Lounge with over 50 roundtables, focusing on topics such as, ethical public procurement, the social value economy, ICT procurement, supplier dialogue, decarbonisation and many more. These sessions have been at the heart of the Proura+ conference series, offering up-close and personal conversation with like-minded, procurement peers. After the closing session on 14 March participants can go to one of the study visits showcasing how Lisbon is implementing sustainable, circular and innovation procurement in practice.