Science afternoon Innovation-oriented Procurement

This information is also available in Dutch.

Last appearance Floris den Boer for PIANOo

The afternoon was hosted by Maurice van Rooijen, specialist Innovation-Oriented Procurement. After the start, he quickly handed over the reins and the participants were warmly welcomed by Floris den Boer, as his last appearance for PIANOo as consultant Innovation-Oriented. Floris will start the new year as a policy advisor at DG Water.

In addition to words of appreciation for speakers and participants, Floris den Boer had a message for the business community and knowledge institutions that they can make an innovative contribution. 'The innovative power of these companies and knowledge institutions can be embraced for innovation-oriented procurement.' He referred to the letter that Minister Blok of Economic Affairs sent to the House of Representatives on 29 November 2021. This letter also announces a working group on innovation-oriented procurement. We consider this science afternoon as supportive from this working group.

'Science provides us with verifiable explanations and predictions about innovation-oriented procurement. These insights are of great value to all contracting authorities, the working group and in particular its members. They want to embrace the innovative power and sometimes have to face internal challenges,' says Den Boer.

Anne Rainville - 'Green public procurement in European countries; A framework to enhance innovation'

Assistant Professor Anne Rainville of the Copernicus Institute of Utrecht then gave the keynote 'Green public procurement in European countries; A framework to enhance innovation'. As an active member of the Innovation-Oriented Procurement working group, she also incorporated points from the earlier discussion of the working group during the morning in her presentation.

In her presentation, Rainville argued that in addition to service improvement and cost reduction, innovation and sustainability are secondary goals of public procurement. Previous studies have identified types of contracting authorities carrying out innovation-oriented procurement across Europe. To date, no comparable research has been conducted on the characteristics of green public procurement (GPP). A new study by Rainville and master's student Milan Jens of the Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development fills this research gap. They looked at contract announcements in 8 European countries to determine the factors associated with green sourcing. Findings can be used to inform policies targeting particular sectors, procurement processes and countries where green public procurement (GPP) is lagging.

Robert Suurmond - 'The sense and non-sense of Early Supplier Involvement'

This presentation was followed by the introduction of Assistant Professor Dr. Robert Suurmond, assistant professor at Maastricht University, who completed his research with Professor Finn Wynstra at Erasmus University. Because of Floris den Boer's latest public activity for PIANOo, Professor Dr. Charles Wessner was very happy to provide this introduction. Wessner is a speaker, researcher and writer with a broad view on global innovation policy and is internationally recognized as an authority in the field of innovation-oriented procurement and SBIR in particular. The Professor currently teaches Global Innovation Policy at Georgetown University.

Wessner is impressed by Suurmond's research, as he makes clear in his introduction. As far as he's concerned, Suurmond can rank among the best in the world. With his focus on the supply chain, his research is more relevant than ever. 'Precisely because the cultural aspects are being looked at more,' says Wessner. According to the Professor, Suurmond's analysis describes what is there without judging whether one is better than the other. 'It helps with the question of what the incentives are for the purchasing professional.' The complete introduction - an enthusiastic mini-lecture in innovation-oriented purchasing - can be seen in the video below.

In his research 'Unraveling the dimensions of supplier involvement and their effects on new product development performance(NPD)' and his presentation, Robert Suurmond shows that extensive supplier involvement has positive effects on the efficiency and effectiveness of NPD, whereas previous supplier involvement only leads to influences NPD efficiency to some extent and not effectiveness.

In his presentation, Robert shows that Early Supplier Involvement seems to be more Later Supplier Involvement at the moment. To get his audience into this mindset, Robert used the companies Quooker, Damen Shipyard and Toyota as examples. His research is a high-quality meta-analysis of 11,420 NPD projects and was chosen as the winner of the Best Paper Award 2020 by the Journal of Supply Chain Management for good reason.

Suurmond emphasizes that his research focuses on product development in the private market and that it focuses on innovation and not on purchasing. It is also about customer involvement and not just supplier involvement, in which market consultations and good dialogue are important.

More about Suurmond's research and the introduction of Charles Wessner in the video below.

Master's students Utrecht University – 'Application of design contest as a procurement procedure in subjects and countries'

After Robert Suurmond, it was the turn of Master's students Science and Business Management on Public Procurement from Utrecht University, Regina Voss, Odile Reiminger and Tijmen van Straten to give a pitch about their research.

Professor Fredo Schotanus of Utrecht University pointed out to the Working Group on Innovation-Oriented Purchasing their view from different fields. A strong analysis and introduction by Professor Dr. Louise Knight, Professor of Public Sector and Healthcare at the University of Twente, gave the presentation a strong start.

The question of how often the competition is used in the Netherlands was remarkable, all the more because we have a creative image of ourselves. The students indicate that the Netherlands is lagging far behind. In France, the procedure is about 15 times more 'popular' than in the Netherlands. This also applies to countries such as Spain, Romania and Sweden. It is clear that the procedure is much more popular in countries such as France (1.35% of the total number of tenders), Estonia, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Poland. They ended their presentation with a thoughtful question: What would be more profitable in an open or closed competition?

Learn more about their research and the introduction of Louise Knight in the video below.

Next Science afternoon Innovation-oriented Procurement

To conclude, Rolf Zeldenrust Msc., advisor Innovation-Oriented Procurement at PIANOo and successor to Floris den Boer in the Working Group on Innovation-Oriented Procurement, gave a preview of the next Innovation-Oriented Procurement science afternoon. In collaboration with Procure2innovate (P2I), PIANOo plans to organize in May 2022. Procure2innovate (P2I) is the European network of expertise centers in the field of innovation-oriented procurement.