A report, published by the European Commission, collecting 71 good practice cases on how public buyers have implemented socially responsible public procurement (SRPP), in order to promote employment opportunities, decent work, social inclusion, accessibility, ethical trade, design for all and seeking to achieve wider compliance with social standards.

As a unique smart city initiative from the European Commission, the Intelligent Cities Challenge (ICC) will provide its participants with technical support and knowledge-sharing opportunities to develop and implement smart action plans around 11 thematic areas. The goal is to help ambitious small to medium sized European cities unleash their potential to use advanced technologies to transform themselves, become more sustainable and raise living standards for their communities.

The ICC will build on the success of the Digital Cities Challenge, which helped 41 EU cities develop a strategic vision and a roadmap for digital transformation. ICC cities will receive high quality and tailored guidance and expert support, access to advisory and city peer networks (European and international), and capability building tools, to drive priority policy goals and the uptake of advanced technologies.

ICLEI as ICC partner supports the consortium to assess the applications of cities to the ICC as well as to manage the project, organise events and provide expertise to the 100 participants.

The European Commission (EC) will produce a report that collects good practices on socially responsible public procurement (SRPP), and ICLEI is are supporting the EC to identify these outstanding examples from local, regional, national and European buyers.
Buying social is about acquiring ethical products and services; using public tenders to promote decent work along the supply chain; introducing gender equality criteria or other social considerations in your tenders; using the light regime for social services, reserved contracts to encourage social outcomes, and accelerating inclusion of people with disabilities by including certain specifications in your tenders, among others.
ICLEI will also support a communication campaign - #WeBuySocialEU - to reach public procurers and authorities to share with them the advantages of SRPP and encourage them to invest time and money on it, and to reach social economy businesses to provide information on the possibilities of SRPP and facilitate their participation in public tendering.

Technology has massive potential to boost learning, teaching and assessment, and since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis, it’s never been more important as a tool for maintaining education even at a distance. To help schools buy the technology they need, a series of videos has been produced by LEA – Learning Technology Accelerator, to introduce schools to the powerful tool of innovation procurement. The videos cover:
• Why innovation procurement in education
• Public Procurement of Innovation in 4 steps
• Pre-Commercial Procurement in 5 steps
• LEA School Labs – testing new technologies
• LEA Buyers Network – practical support for buying learntech

EC GPP Case Study - the municipality of Orkdal, Norway wanted to ensure that environmental aspects were considered through the whole procurement process for new public health centre.

EC GPP Case Study - The goal of the procurement was to purchase public street lighting for the entire municipality, that would significantly reduce energy consumption, increase the lifespan of the street lights purchased and reduce the overall maintenance needed to operate the street lighting.

Learning Technology Accelerator Online course is for organisations and people who are interested in buying learning technologies. On this course you will learn:

•Basics of innovation procurement (Pre-Commercial Procurement and Public Procurement of Innovation)
•5 Steps to PCP and PPI in the field of Education
•How to identify and communicate your needs to other interested procurers
•Where to search for funding and how apply for it
•How to analyze the market and confirm an innovation gap
•How to implement a PCP
•Differences between joined and coordinated PPI legal frameworks
•Bonus chapter on emerging learning technologies between 2020 to 2030

EC GPP Case Study - The City of Helsingborg applied an open procedure for a framework agreement for a wholesaler who could provide €690,000 worth of food for schools and nursing
homes. The City wanted to ensure that the wholesaler was capable of providing sustainably certified food (i.e. organic or responsible produced palm oil), which is nutritious, ethical, and delivered in packaging that would be easy to recycle.

Report providing an overview of lessons learned from the Municipality of Frederiksberg's pilot innovation partnership to procure future rainwater management solutions.