Leitat, one of Spain's leading technology centres, Acció, the Catalan Agency for Business Competitiveness, and the Provincial Council of Barcelona are excited to bring together cities, start-ups, companies, universities and technology centres for 2 days of inspiring keynote talks, panel discussions, and networking opportunities through their Innovation Marketplace and targeted matchmaking for the upcoming City Mission and city-related CL5 Horizon Europe calls.

This on-site event is financed by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades and the AEI, the Spanish Agency for promoting scientific and technical research and organised with the support of the Enterprise Europe Network, the largest business support network worldwide.

Whether you're looking for using innovation procurement to tackle local needs and drive the green transition, innovative solutions that match these needs, new markets for your cutting-edge innovations or concrete matchmaking opportunities for Horizon Europe funding, this event is for you.

Register now to secure your spot for this event in Barcelona! Places to this on-site event are limited and registrations will be accepted until 13 September 2024.

Highlights of the event include:

Innovation Marketplace:

• As a company/start-up, showcase your innovative solutions and present them to local public buyers for reaching new markets.
  Join the virtual info session for companies/start-ups on 10 September at 10.00-10.30 CET using this link.
• As a local administration, get to know leading-edge solutions stemming from Horizon 2020/Horizon Europe projects for meeting your local needs.
• As a university/research and technology organisation, bridge the gap between the development of innovative solutions and their uptake.

Matchmaking event: Meet new partner organisations for the upcoming Horizon City Mission calls and the city-related CL5 calls.

Especially for Municipalities: You can request free-of-charge technical assistance to cities by the Smart Cities Marketplace: Book a bilateral meeting with the Smart Cities Team (clicking on “Marketplace” and filtering “Project Cooperation” opportunities for “Free-of-charge technical assistance to cities by the Smart Cities Marketplace").

Inspiration and access to frontrunners: Get inspired by our keynote speakers and acknowledged panellists for learning about success cases of innovation uptake by and with the local public sector and about valuable insights from vanguard City Mission projects.

This webinar will explore the impactful role of public procurement in reducing CO2 emissions within urban environments. It is part of ICLEI Europe's webinar series, targeted at its members (local and regional governments across Europe), highlighting how European cities are taking practical measures to make sustainability a reality. 

Public procurement is the process by which public authorities, such as government departments or local authorities acquire goods, services and works, and holds tremendous potential to influence market trends and drive sustainable practices. By incorporating sustainable public procurement (SPP) strategies, cities can significantly reduce their carbon footprints, promote green innovation, and set powerful examples.

The webinar will emphasise the importance of public procurement in meeting environmental objectives, showcase real-world examples from ICLEI members who have successfully included carbon-reducing clauses in their public procurement strategies and activities, and provide actionable insights for local governments looking to adopt and enhance SPP practices.

Programme

11.00: Welcome - Grace Sly, ICLEI Europe
11.05: Introduction to Sustainable Public Procurement - Dominique Sandy, Head of Sustainable and Innovation Procurement, ICLEI Europe
11.15: City Presentation, Municipality of Copenhagen - Lisbet Tegllund, Chief consultant, Economic Administration
11.30: City Presentation, Municipality of Utrecht - Lieske Jonge - Oostveen, Purchasing Advisor Socially Responsible Commissioning and Purchasing
11.45: Q&A
11.55: Wrap-up - Grace Sly, ICLEI Europe

The webinar is open to ICLEI members, Procura+ participants and Circular City Declaration signatories. To register, click here

The 2024 Electronics Watch Annual Conference, "Public Procurement and the Evolving Due Diligence Landscape", will take place from 6-7 November in Brussels, Belgium. It is co-hosted by the Flemish Agency for Facility Operations (Het Facilitair Bedrijf), with support from the Flemish Government.

The Annual Conference facilitates learning and exchange at the intersection of socially responsible public procurement and labour rights, and provides a unique opportunity for Electronics Watch affiliates and monitoring partners to meet face-to-face. It will raise awareness about the issues workers are facing, and how they can be addressed through the public procurement process.

Programme

Wednesday, 6 November 2024

(The morning sessions are open to external, invited guests.)
9:00 – 9:30 Welcome
9:30 – 11:00 The evolving regulatory landscape: a revolution or a missed opportunity?
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00 Accountability for business harms: stories from workers' rights defenders from the mines to the factories
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
(The remainder of the agenda is restricted to affiliates and monitoring partners)
14:00 – 15:30 Expectations, realities, and trade-offs: conversations with monitoring partners and public buyers
15:30 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 17:30 Collective leverage in action
17:30 – 18:00 Closing remarks

Thursday, 7 November 2024

9:00 – 10:30 Public procurement innovation: updates from affiliates
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 – 12:30 Simulation game
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:30 Obtaining credible evidence with limited access: updates from monitoring partners
15:30 – 15:45 Coffee break
15:45 – 16:30 Wrap-up and thanks

For more information, and to register click here

Austrian public authorities and social economy entities are invited to take part in a training organised as part of the WeBuySocialEU capacity-building efforts. The training will take place in Graz on 5 December and will be delivered in German. The training is designed to help stakeholders not only gain much-needed expertise in socially responsible public procurement but also to establish participants as the go-to person within their organisation for advice and expertise in this increasingly important field. The training is specifically tailored to professional and particular contexts, thanks to in-depth research and interviews conducted by national experts in autumnn 2023.

The training will give participants a better understanding of the social economy in Austria, and of the shared goals and needs of public buyers and social economy actors. In addition, participants will learn about the benefits and challenges of involving social economy organisations in public tenders, how to implement social and sustainability criteria in public tenders, and how to improve collaboration between the social economy sector and public authorities engaging in Socially Responsible Public Procurement (SRPP).

The training takes place in the context of the European Commission's WeBuySocialEU initiative, which seeks to enhance social responsibility in public procurement by building capacity and awareness across the EU. At the end of the training public authorities should have more knowledge on how to design tendering procedures that are accessible to the social economy and include social aspects, while social economy enterprises will be able to better compete for public tenders that include social considerations.

The European Commission training workshop in Austria is organised by ICLEI Europe in cooperation with arbeit plus. More information about the initiative can be found here. To apply, click here.