CTA (Technological Corporation of Andalusia) held, today within the framework of the European project P5 Innobroker, a practical workshop to bring Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) closer to Andalusian SMEs, which was attended by nearly 30 representatives of small and medium-sized companies.
The event, held in the cicCartuja building in the PCT Cartuja in Seville, was inaugurated by David Páez, director of Consulting and International Projects at CTA, who highlighted the potential of this Public procurement tool that allows administrations and public organizations to purchase products and services that do not yet exist in the market, but could be developed in the short term, in a way that modernizes citizen services while stimulating business innovation.
Manuel Ortigosa, technical advisor of the General Directorate of Promotion of Innovation of the regional Ministry of University, Research and Innovation of the Government of Andalusia, described the public policies to promote PPI and highlighted, specifically, several opportunities in PPI processes of the Junta de Andalucía in the Health, Agri-Food, ICT or Space sectors. For example, in the field of Health, he highlighted PPI projects of the Board such as PADIGA, for the digital transformation of pathological anatomy, or PIBICRA, a platform of AI solutions based on Big Data for cancer screening in Andalusia. He also highlighted the PPI program of the Board specific for the Space sector, endowed with 10 million euros, and the UAS4Simplify project of the Andalusian Agrarian and Fisheries Management Agency to apply UAS to simplify actions on the ground.
For his part, Carlos García, PPI expert and head of the P5 Innobroker project at CTA, reviewed the keys to PPI and highlighted the competitive advantage it can provide for SMEs because it favors their specialization, instead of production at minimum cost. He specified that the PPI helps SMEs to boost their innovation processes, expand their customer base, mitigate their financial risks and strengthen their position in the market, but noted that, while many large companies are already benefiting from this contracting opportunity public, SMEs still have a low level of participation.
The companies Adhera Health (ICT Health) and Oritia&Boreas (wind energy) explained their success stories in PPI processes in a debate moderated by CTA consultant Rafael Castillo, while Austral Ventures pointed out crossover opportunities for SMEs that participate in PPI and venture capital.
P5 Innobroker, boosting the PPI in Southern Europe
P5 Innobroker is a strategic project for the European Commission and financed by the COSME programme, which aims to promote the launch and execution of Public Procurement of Innovation initiatives due to its energizing effect on the companies’ innovation and the modernization of Public Administrations.
CTA leads this European project in which five other European entities also participate: the Ea Ecoentreprises cluster (France), the Hellas Technology Center of Thessaloniki (Greece), the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce, the Larnaca Regional Development Agency and Famagusta (Cyprus) and the Sarajevo Regional Development Agency (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
In its three years of execution, P5 Innobroker is analyzing the viability of new business models based on support services for the preparation and execution of PPI initiatives, both for public administrations and bidding entities. Likewise, the project plans to train and energize the public sector so that it can significantly increase the contracting of innovative technologies, products and solutions, while supporting the start-up and expansion of technology-based companies that can compete in the tenders.
The P5 Innobroker project is co-financed by the COSME programme of the European Union.
