Deadline: 17-Aug-23
The European Commission (EC) is delighted to launch an open call for the European Innovation Procurement Awards under the Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON).
Scope
- The European Innovation Procurement Awards 2023-2024 aim to recognise public and private buyers, natural persons and those legal entities supporting these practices across Europe in their efforts to promote and stimulate both procurement of innovative solutions and the innovative ways the solutions are procured.
- The Awards also aim to demonstrate how innovation procurement positively transforms the economy by not only creating new and sustainable markets, but also by tackling societal challenges such as green energy transition. These Awards complement other EIC initiatives aimed at supporting and fostering innovation procurement in the European Union.
Funding Information
The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
- public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Impact
The awards aim to:
- Stimulate the innovation procurement uptake;
- Acknowledge and support the efforts done by procurers, and legal entities supporting them, to deliver better services and/or to bring products to the market in an innovative way; and
- Build a diverse European community of public and private buyers to share, work together and inspire each other in the design of innovative procurement processes, and particularly in the delivery of public services.
Eligibility Criteria
- Eligible applicants are any public and/or private procurer, individuals/natural persons, and/or legal entities supporting those practices established in one of the Member States (including overseas countries and territories, OCTs) or Associated Countries to Horizon Europe;
- The awarded procurement practice must have taken place in a Member State (including overseas countries and territories, OCTs) or in an Associated Country to Horizon Europe;
- The awarded procurement practice must relate to completed or ongoing initiatives started after 1 January 2018. In the case of ongoing activities, only work completed by the submission deadline will be considered for the prize;
- Participants can only apply to one of the two categories for the same set of activities. If more than one applications are received, only the last application received will be retained for the competition, and the others previously submitted will be declared ineligible.
- Winners of former European Innovation Procurement Awards editions, as well as runners-up of the 2022 edition are not eligible.
- Applicants that have already received an EU or Euratom prize cannot receive a second prize for the same activities.
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To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:
- the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
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the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States:
- Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
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countries associated to Horizon Europe
- Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine.
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Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities — Affiliated entities are eligible for funding if they are established in one of the countries listed above, or in a country identified in the specific call conditions.
- Associated partners — Entities not eligible for funding (and therefore not able to participate as beneficiaries) may participate as associated partners, unless specified otherwise in the specific call conditions.
- Coordination and Support Actions – To be eligible to participate as beneficiaries (or affiliated entities) in ‘Coordination and support’ actions, legal entities must be established in a Member State or Associated Country, unless the specific call conditions provide otherwise.
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law may also be eligible to receive funding, unless their basic act states otherwise.
- International organisations — International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding. Unless their participation is considered essential for implementing the action by the granting authority, other international organisations are not eligible to receive funding. International organisations with headquarters in a Member State or Associated Country are eligible to receive funding for ‘Training and mobility’ actions and when provided for in the specific call conditions.
Award Criteria
- Award criterion 1: Transformation: stimulating the conversion of procurement practices towards innovation procurement with the aim to ensure a sustainable and inclusive growth.
- Award criterion 2: Uptake: the innovative procurement practise is replicable and scalable, and, therefore, contributes to providing more efficient and effective solutions.
- Award criterion 3: Collaboration: demonstrated co-operation linked to the innovation procurement practice. Special attention should be paid to the establishment of synergies, to the promotion of best practices, to the support to capacity building and skill development, and to the efforts of knowledge sharing between stakeholders within the different territories, especially among those at different state of maturity in innovation procurement practices.
- Award criterion 4: Societal impact: practices with a demonstrated positive quantitative and qualitative impact on society, with special emphasis to achieving the green deal and digital transformation priorities.
For more information, visit European Commission (EC).