Public authorities and social economy entities are invited to take part in training activities organised as part of the WeBuySocialEU capacity-building efforts. The training events – delivered in the national languages – are 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. These national training sessions are specifically tailored to professional and particular contexts, thanks to in-depth research and interviews conducted by national experts in autumn 2023.

For civil servants or public authority employees: You will learn how to design tendering procedures that are accessible to the social economy and include social aspects. You will learn how to include different types of social considerations across the procurement process, how to monitor their execution, as well as improve the knowledge of social economy entities in your country – how and in which markets they operate - to be able to design public tenders that are accessible to them.

For social economy entities: You will learn how to better compete for public tenders that include social considerations. You will discover how to form consortia among social economy entities and with conventional businesses, as well as how to participate in tenders as subcontractors.

The full agenda of the Belgian (Dutch language) training session can be found here. To express your interest, click here.

The European Commission's WeBuySocialEU initiative seeks to enhance social responsibility in public procurement by building capacity and awareness across the EU. The initiative aims to involve a broad spectrum of stakeholders, starting with public authorities and social economy entities across Europe, through tailored training events and comprehensive outreach on social media platforms. WeBuySocialEU encourages contracting authorities to integrate social considerations into their purchasing policies and practices. Simultaneously, it supports social economy actors in understanding and participating effectively in public procurement procedures. This effort also aims to foster collaboration and mutual understanding between the social economy and the public sector across the EU.

More information about the initiative can be found here.

The Procurement Summit is the exhibition for digitalisation and innovation in the procurement sector. In 2024, it will take place for the seventh time in Hamburg. The conference will feature two thrilling days of top-class speakers, panel discussions among leading experts, and workshops with applicable expertise such as innovative providers in the exhibition area.

The Procurement Summit was organised for the first time in 2018 and has been growing since. Its main focus is on digitalisation in purchasing. It aims to bring together startups and purchasing managers with key decision makers. More information about the summit can be found here.

The IPTF Conference offers an unparalleled platform for individuals within the innovation procurement ecosystem to unite and delve into the pivotal challenge of scaling-up through a three-part, interactive programme. The Conference, organised by the Innovation Procurement Task Force, aims to be a cornerstone for professionals in the procurement sector, offering unparalleled opportunities for learning, networking, and collaboration.

The Conference includes:

• Policy Perspectives on Scaling Up: this segment will unveil a variety of insightful, provocative perspectives from IPTF partners through succinct presentations. These insights will undergo critical examination by policy experts before opening the floor to debates with attendees or panel discussions.
• Capacity Building in Action: drawing from needs pinpointed earlier, this portion will highlight exemplary project outputs from PROCEDIN, Health InnoFacilitator, and BUILD. It aims to illustrate the application of resources and methodologies developed by these projects in fostering innovation procurement capacity building.
• Learning Lab: adopting a World Café approach, this session invites all attendees to contribute their knowledge towards collaboratively formulating strategies for the accelerated adoption and scaling up of innovation procurement

Throughout the day, there will be an explicit focus on exchanging insights on scaling-up innovation procurement, and identifying ways to amplify enablers and tackle barriers. Attendees will also have the opportunity to explore displays showcasing the objectives and achievements of the IPTF projects.

For more information on the conference, and to register click here. Registration is free, participants are however explicitly asked to un-register if they cannot attend.

The third Open Market Consultation of the EU-funded Procure4Health project aims to challenge the market to develop innovative solutions for advancing home-based care and remote monitoring, leveraging technological advancements and fostering patient empowerment to enable more active participation in their personalised care plans across various medical specialities.

4% of the population leaving with multiple chronic conditions is responsible for up to 30% consumption of health care resources (primary and hospital health care). A rise in the number of those complex patients is expected in the coming years highly impacting health care system stress and sustainability. In addition, the role of patients is becoming more active in their own care in the home and community based care model.

The combination of new advanced technologies in specialties such as oncology, cardiology, neurology or other, can be used to enhance the possibilities of home-based healthcare relieving some of the hospital-based care. AI-powered alerting systems or virtual assistants help patients take increasing ownership of their care.

To register, and find more information on the event, click here.

For more information on the other Procure4Health challenges, click here.

The EU project Prepare, an European Innovation Ecosystem (EIE) project running till December 2024, brings together 4 regions in Spain, Finland, Sweden and Romania that are interacting with the local ecosystems to design novel policies that promote demand-driven co-creation for the benefit of local public services, SMEs and citizens.

The project's first round of insights, resources and best practices will be shared in the public workshop. "Regional Policies to Promote the Adoption of Innovation by Public Administrations”. Regional stakeholders related to innovation policies and their counterpart offices in Brussels are invited to:

• Understand the benefits of the collaboration between public organizations and local innovators.
• Learn the feedback acquired from the local stakeholders of the Prepare regions.
• Share their own experiences and interests.
• Make proposals to design policies adapted to the regional realities.
• Access to a database of 300+ knowledge resources.

Prepare responds to the need to explore new models, adapted to the needs of EU's regions, that tap into the promise of incorporating innovation in the public sector while increasing business competitiveness. Some ideas on how demand-driven innovation can increase the impact of regional policies are presented in this article.

More information about the workshop can be found here. To register, click here.

As part of the Strategic Procurement training for Public Buyers initiative (EISMEA/2023/OP/0012), two exciting training opportunities for public procurers in Europe have been launched: PPE+ Europe and Procure Innovation EU.

The online webinar, happening the 16th of July from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM CEST, will provide general information about both training programmes to potential participants, as well as a Q&A session where interested parties will be able to address any doubts about the training programmes.

Whether you are a public buyer looking to optimize your procurement processes or an organization aiming to drive innovation and sustainability through strategic procurement, this webinar is the perfect opportunity to learn more about our comprehensive training programmes.

Register here

The second European Commission’s Green Public Procurement (GPP) Helpdesk webinar of 2024 will take place on the 17th of September, from 14.30 to 16.00 CET. The event will address the respect of the mandatory horizontal social clause enshrined in Article 18.2 of Directive 2014/24/EU. This clause requires Member States (MS) to ensure compliance with applicable environmental, social and labour laws (obligations established by EU law, national law, collective agreements and eight specified core ILO conventions) in the performance of public contracts. Recent research highlighted that this clause is not always respected and/or that there are shortcomings or uncertainty in its application and enforcement.

The webinar will present some good practices implemented by national and regional authorities, as well as by some contracting authorities across the EU.The webinar will be facilitated by Valentina Caimi (AEIDL). It's the second of four webinars taking place in 2024 as part of the European Commission's Helpdesk Service on GPP.

To register, and see the full programme, click here.

In this webinar, EAFIP will explain what Value Engineering is and dive into the critical aspects of the application of VE using case examples and contributions from experts in the field. The webinar will also provide the opportunity for participants to ask questions before, during and after the sessions.

Value Engineering (VE) is a technique that can trigger innovation during the contract, improve value and produce cost savings. The methodology can be used in different phases of the preparation and implementation of a procurement. In particular, a Value Engineering clause can be used as a procurement technique that allows contractors to present Value Engineering Change Proposals (VECP) during the term of the contract in order to add value and improve solutions with the lowest Total Cost of Ownership.

The webinar is mainly targeted towards European public buyers and innovation procurement centers / hubs, but also suppliers of innovative solutions and policy makers are most welcome to join. The full agenda can be found here
Participation is free of charge, but registration is mandatory.

Finnish Public authorities and social economy entities are invited to take part in a trainig organised as part of the WeBuySocialEU capacity-building efforts. The training – delivered in Finnish – 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 autumn 2023. Apply for the training here by 16 September

For civil servants or public authority employees: You will learn how to design tendering procedures that are accessible to the social economy and include social aspects. You will learn how to include different types of social considerations across the procurement process, how to monitor their execution, as well as improve the knowledge of social economy entities in your country – how and in which markets they operate - to be able to design public tenders that are accessible to them.

For social economy entities: You will learn how to better compete for public tenders that include social considerations. You will discover how to form consortia among social economy entities and with conventional businesses, as well as how to participate in tenders as subcontractors.

The full agenda of the Finish training session can be found here.

The European Commission's WeBuySocialEU initiative seeks to enhance social responsibility in public procurement by building capacity and awareness across the EU.The initiative aims to involve a broad spectrum of stakeholders, starting with public authorities and social economy entities across Europe, through tailored training events and comprehensive outreach on social media platforms. WeBuySocialEU encourages contracting authorities to integrate social considerations into their purchasing policies and practices. Simultaneously, it supports social economy actors in understanding and participating effectively in public procurement procedures. This effort also aims to foster collaboration and mutual understanding between the social economy and the public sector across the EU.

The European Commission training workshop in Finland is organised by ICLEI Europe in cooperation with Silta-Valmennusyhdistys.

More information about the initiative can be found here. To apply, click here. Registration deadline: 16 September

How does digitalisation contribute to advancing circular procurement practices? Aligning digital and green transitions to foster sustainability is key. Optimizing procurement processes with circularity criteria, ethical considerations, and the use of advanced technologies like AI is essential to achieve greater sustainability.

The ECESP Leadership Group on Circular Procurement invites you to join the #EUCircularTalks on Digitalisation for Circular Procurement: Global Insights and Local Applications. This webinar will take place on 27 September at 10:00 – 12:00 CEST on MS Teams, offering valuable insights into global trends, practical tools, and real-world case studies. Participants will learn strategies to mitigate environmental and social impacts associated with ICT procurement and to implement sustainable procurement practices effectively.

Don’t miss this opportunity to explore, with specific examples, the transformative potential of digitalization in advancing circular economy goals.

Register here! More information on speakers to follow soon.