However, the adoption of PPI in Europe  is only slowly taking up. This may be due to a lack of buyers’ awareness of or experience with the purchase of new technology and new market developments. Buyers are also often risk-averse; they prefer to buy from established companies and well-known suppliers.
Moreover, according to Robert Miskuf, coordinator of PRONTO and CEO of PEDAL Consulting in Slovakia, most tenders are hardly formulated in a result-oriented manner; all too often they prescribe specific solutions in detail, so that alternatives have no chance from the start.
Matching supply and demand
The PRONTO project will identify what public buyers need and what the obstacles are to PPI adoption. PRONTO will also organize various (inter) national meetings, including trainings for public procurers, exchanges of personnel and mediation events to match supply and demand. In addition, PRONTO will set up pilot PPI projects in clean energy, health care and regional development in Romania, Slovakia and Spain.
The PRONTO project will run for 40 months and will receive a subsidy of approximately € 1.5 million from the European program Competitiveness of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (COSME). This is aimed at boosting the competitiveness of SMEs. The project team includes three government buyers and 7 SMEs from 8 EU countries.
Agro&Chemistry recently published an in-depth article about the intractable biobased procurement practice in The Netherlands. Read the full article it on this website.
Image: Olivier Le Moal / Shutterstock
