Over the two past decades, the strategical use of public procurement has increasingly become a central theme of European innovation policy. Public Demand for Innovation can improve public services steering technological change towards socially shared objectives. The application of public procurement of goods and services to innovation has thus a triple rationale: (1) the improvement of public services; (2) the incentive of supplier firms to be more innovative; and (3) the pursuit of broader societal goals or missions. Academic debate has, in different perspectives, dealt with the role of public procurement as an innovation driver. From 90', authors interested on the role of procurement as an innovation policy tool or as a tool of industrial policy, have discussed public procurement as one of the critical elements of a demand-oriented innovation policy and have emphasised the role of policymakers in promoting innovation-friendly practices across all types of procurement. Despite the growing awareness of public demand to spur innovation, the investments devoted to adopting innovative solutions in Europe are just above half of the ambition level. This dissertation addresses the theme of innovation procurement by focusing on the implementation of Pre-commercial procurement, which is a relatively new approach to procuring R&D services, defined by the European Commission's COM (2007) 799. The dissertation considers the three key actors involved in the innovation procurement policy implementation: the policymaker, the procurer, and the supplier. By analysing in parallel (and somehow also jointly) these three different perspectives on the Pre-Commercial Procurement experiences, the dissertation aims to evaluate innovation procurement policy in the Italian policy framework. In this respect, the thesis is built upon three original studies: Study 1- The experience in Italian and in the Italian Regions; Study 2- The Procurer’s perspective; Study 3-The Suppliers perspective. The methodology approach for the whole dissertation draws on the "Monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of innovation-related" (MLE- on Innovation Related Procurement), which encourages the triangulation multi-methods approach in Innovation public procurement policies evaluation. Study 1. primarily adopts: "Legislation analysis", "documentary desk research". Study 2. applies a mixed-method approach mainly based on "Survey" and "One-to-one interviews" with key actors from the procurer's side (involving 12 out of 18 public administration who has run PCP in Italy). Study 3. leverages the "case study" methodology supported by the "participatory observation"; this study involved Tech4Care Srl, an Italian start-up particularly active in the Pre-Commercial procurement field. The analysis of the three studies led to several considerations, which can be briefly picked up as follow. The Innovation procurement policy, although severely promoted, is relatively immature concerning the implementation and evaluation both at the national and regional level. The pre-commercial procurement could effectively represent an excellent opportunity for growing concerning the supply-side. The supplier can experience a strengthened improvement concerning business development due to the PCPs experience. However, some preliminary requirements of the supply-side may be necessary to exploit the PCP opportunities fully. Concerning the procurer-side, the Procuring Entity (PE) generally experiences either direct and indirect positive impacts. However, when a wider PPI does not follow the PCP experience, the knowledge arisen from R&D activity remains unexploited from the Procurer side.
Negli ultimi due decenni, l'uso strategico degli appalti pubblici è diventato un tema sempre più centrale della politica europea dell'innovazione poiché può migliorare i servizi pubblici guidando il cambiamento tecnologico verso obiettivi socialmente condivisi. L'applicazione degli appalti pubblici in acquisti innovativi si basa su una triplice logica: (1) il miglioramento dei servizi pubblici; (2) l'incentivo delle aziende a essere più innovative; e (3) il perseguimento di obiettivi o missioni sociali più ampie. Il dibattito accademico ha affrontato, in diverse prospettive, il ruolo degli appalti pubblici come motore dell'innovazione. Dagli anni 90 ', diversi autori si sono interessati al ruolo degli appalti come strumento di politica dell'innovazione, hanno discusso degli appalti pubblici come uno degli elementi critici di una politica di innovazione orientata alla domanda e hanno sottolineato il ruolo dei policymakers nella promozione pratiche favorevoli all'innovazione in tutti i tipi di appalti. Nonostante la crescente consapevolezza che la domanda pubblica può stimolare l'innovazione, gli investimenti dedicati all'adozione di soluzioni innovative in Europa sono appena sopra la metà del livello atteso. uesta tesi affronta il tema degli appalti per l'innovazione concentrandosi sull'attuazione degli appalti Pre-commerciali (o Pre-Commercial Procurement-PCP), un approccio relativamente nuovo per l'approvvigionamento di servizi di ricerca e sviluppo, definito dalla Commissione Europea COM (2007) 799. La tesi considera i tre attori chiave coinvolti l'implementazione della politica di approvvigionamento di innovazione: il decisore politico, l'acquirente pubblico e il fornitore. Analizzando in parallelo (e in qualche modo anche congiuntamente) queste tre diverse prospettive sulle esperienze di appalto PCP, la dissertazione mira a valutare la politica degli appalti per l'innovazione nel quadro politico italiano. A questo proposito, la tesi si basa su tre studi originali: Studio 1- L'esperienza in italiano e nelle regioni italiane; Studio 2- Il punto di vista del procuratore; Studio 3-La prospettiva dei fornitori.L'approccio metodologico per l'intero lavoro si basa sul "Monitoraggio, valutazione e valutazione dell'impatto delle attività legate all'innovazione" (MLE- on Innovation Related Procurement), che incoraggia l'approccio multi-metodo di triangolazione nella valutazione delle politiche di appalti pubblici per l'innovazione. Lo studio 1. adotta principalmente: "analisi della legislazione", "ricerca documentale”. Lo studio 2. applica un approccio di mixed-method basato principalmente su "Survey" e "interviste One-to-one" con attori chiave dal lato del committente (coinvolgendo 12 delle 18 pubbliche amministrazioni che hanno gestito PCP in Italia). Lo studio 3. fa leva sulla metodologia del "caso studio" supportata dalla "osservazione partecipativa"; tale studio ha coinvolto Tech4Care Srl, una start up italiana particolarmente attiva nel campo degli appalti PCP. L'analisi dei tre studi ha portato a diverse considerazioni, che possono essere brevemente riassunte come segue. La politica sugli appalti per l'innovazione, sebbene fortemente promossa, è relativamente immatura per quanto riguarda l'attuazione e la valutazione sia a livello nazionale che regionale. L'appalto PCP potrebbe effettivamente rappresentare un'ottima opportunità di crescita dal lato per l’impresa. Il fornitore può sperimentare un notevole miglioramento riguardo lo sviluppo del business grazie all'esperienza dei PCP. Tuttavia, alcuni requisiti preliminari del fornitore potrebbero essere necessari per sfruttare appieno le opportunità del PCP. Anche l’Ente appaltante subisce generalmente impatti positivi diretti e indiretti. Tuttavia, quando un Appalto di Innovazione non segue l'esperienza del PCP, la conoscenza derivante dall'attività di ricerca e sviluppo rimane non sfruttata dal punto di vista dell’attore pubblico.
Towards the evaluation of innovation procurement: The Pre-Commercial Procurement in Italy / Bolognini, Sara. - (2021 Oct 31).
Towards the evaluation of innovation procurement: The Pre-Commercial Procurement in Italy
BOLOGNINI, SARA
2021-10-31
Abstract
Over the two past decades, the strategical use of public procurement has increasingly become a central theme of European innovation policy. Public Demand for Innovation can improve public services steering technological change towards socially shared objectives. The application of public procurement of goods and services to innovation has thus a triple rationale: (1) the improvement of public services; (2) the incentive of supplier firms to be more innovative; and (3) the pursuit of broader societal goals or missions. Academic debate has, in different perspectives, dealt with the role of public procurement as an innovation driver. From 90', authors interested on the role of procurement as an innovation policy tool or as a tool of industrial policy, have discussed public procurement as one of the critical elements of a demand-oriented innovation policy and have emphasised the role of policymakers in promoting innovation-friendly practices across all types of procurement. Despite the growing awareness of public demand to spur innovation, the investments devoted to adopting innovative solutions in Europe are just above half of the ambition level. This dissertation addresses the theme of innovation procurement by focusing on the implementation of Pre-commercial procurement, which is a relatively new approach to procuring R&D services, defined by the European Commission's COM (2007) 799. The dissertation considers the three key actors involved in the innovation procurement policy implementation: the policymaker, the procurer, and the supplier. By analysing in parallel (and somehow also jointly) these three different perspectives on the Pre-Commercial Procurement experiences, the dissertation aims to evaluate innovation procurement policy in the Italian policy framework. In this respect, the thesis is built upon three original studies: Study 1- The experience in Italian and in the Italian Regions; Study 2- The Procurer’s perspective; Study 3-The Suppliers perspective. The methodology approach for the whole dissertation draws on the "Monitoring, evaluation and impact assessment of innovation-related" (MLE- on Innovation Related Procurement), which encourages the triangulation multi-methods approach in Innovation public procurement policies evaluation. Study 1. primarily adopts: "Legislation analysis", "documentary desk research". Study 2. applies a mixed-method approach mainly based on "Survey" and "One-to-one interviews" with key actors from the procurer's side (involving 12 out of 18 public administration who has run PCP in Italy). Study 3. leverages the "case study" methodology supported by the "participatory observation"; this study involved Tech4Care Srl, an Italian start-up particularly active in the Pre-Commercial procurement field. The analysis of the three studies led to several considerations, which can be briefly picked up as follow. The Innovation procurement policy, although severely promoted, is relatively immature concerning the implementation and evaluation both at the national and regional level. The pre-commercial procurement could effectively represent an excellent opportunity for growing concerning the supply-side. The supplier can experience a strengthened improvement concerning business development due to the PCPs experience. However, some preliminary requirements of the supply-side may be necessary to exploit the PCP opportunities fully. Concerning the procurer-side, the Procuring Entity (PE) generally experiences either direct and indirect positive impacts. However, when a wider PPI does not follow the PCP experience, the knowledge arisen from R&D activity remains unexploited from the Procurer side. I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.