I had the opportunity to participate in the Awareness Seminar on Public Procurement of Innovation (CPI) organized by the National Agency for Innovation (ANI), in partnership with the Institute of Public Markets, Real Estate and Construction (IMPIC). Participants had the opportunity to learn more about the contours of the CPI and to benefit from the contributions of some contracting authorities. The session took place on April 29, at 3:30 pm, in digital format.

The Seminar aimed to raise awareness of the importance of the topic of Public Procurement for Innovation in Portugal and present the results of a questionnaire, launched in January 2021, to Contracting Authorities in the context of public procurement for Innovation, which had the following objectives:

• Assess the awareness of contracting entities for CPI;
• Assess the ability of contracting entities to be involved in CPI contracts;
• Assess the interest in the existence of a national competence center in CPI.

The following conclusions emerged from the survey:

• About 50% of the entities confessed that they were little familiar with the concept of CPI and more than 70% did not know of any acquisition made through a public innovation contract.
• Respondents also considered that the main barriers to implementing CPI were the lack of awareness of the topic and the lack of adequate training of human resources, with limited financial resources as a third problematic factor.
• All respondents also considered the existence of a Competence Center as a positive step towards providing services to support the process.

The seminar arose within the scope of the “Skills Center to Support Public Procurement for Innovation” project, financed by COMPETE 2020 (SATDAP).