Seminar on Public Procurement of Innovation

P5 Innobroker partnership organised a “Club innovation” on Public Procurement of Innovation on 5th December 2023 in Aix-en-Provence/ France

Organised by Éa éco-entreprises, the Regional Cluster of eco-enterprises, this session of information on Public Procurement of Innovation was held by two French speakers: Jessica Poles, financial and entrepreneurship expert and Zineb Larabi, Public buyers’ expert.

Simon Nardin, Innovation Project Officer for Éa éco-entreprises opened the session with a brief explanation on the cluster’s activities and support to SMEs. Then Lucie Mathieu, European Project Officer for Éa éco-entreprises introduced P5 Innobroker project to the participative companies. After a brief presentation of the partnership and the project, she explained how P5 Innobroker can help French Innovative SMEs before giving the floor to the 22 participants to introduce themselves and express their expectations in a friendly round table.

Jessica Poles and Zineb Larabi started their dynamic presentation by a brief reminder on General Public Procurement before giving theoretical and practical information for innovative SMEs in Public Procurement. They explained Public Buyers mindsets, obstacles and way of working then, gave examples of specific cases in order to explain the Public Procurement of Innovation process. Through the session, all participants could ask their questions and share their experiences.

After two hours and a half of presentation and exchanges between experts and SMEs, all participants were invited to a networking cocktail offered by P5 Innobroker partnership.

This event gathered in the same room innovative start-ups and SMEs of different fields (waste, water, environment, energy), all of them focused on sustainable development.

Following this successful event, more sessions will be organised for French companies willing to discuss more precisely about challenges of the innovation in public procurement. Individual support can also be provided for SMEs willing to go further in the process of Public Procurement of Innovation.