Boost for increased participation by Swedish companies in European innovation procurement projects

Purpose and goal:

Swedish companies are poor at exploiting the potential of the opportunities provided by European innovation procurement projects. The project´s purpose has been to test the need for active support for Swedish companies for them to take advantage of the opportunities for capital and cooperation with customers that the European innovation procurements provide.

The goal has been for at least 4 Swedish companies to be awarded contracts for the initial phase in the four EU Horizon financed pre-commercial procurement projects within Integrated Care. Expected results and effects:

A pre-commercial procurement is carried out in three phases, phase 1 is open to all suppliers while phases 2 and 3 are only open to the already qualified suppliers. The goal for PCP Boost has been for at least four Swedish companies to be awarded contracts in phase 1. Of a total of 24 tenders that won in the four pre-commercial procurement projects, a total of ten tenders had Swedish participation.

The understanding of the innovation procurement tool among companies and business developers has increased but requires further efforts for broad impact. Approach and implementation:

PCP Boost has been a pilot project with the intention of testing whether and how joint national active support could look like. From a learning perspective, the assignment has focused on: a) networking, seeking out and contacting relevant companies, b) opportunity-oriented initiating dialogue to highlight the opportunities, describe objectives, and challenges, and c) actively support team building between companies and the development of tender.

The analysis shows a lack of knowledge about innovation procurement and how to build capacity to submit competitive tenders.