Archive for December, 2011

Workshop 8.12. in Copenhagen on Public Procurement and Innovation within the Health Sector / Nordic countries

As an initiative of the Nordic Council of Ministers and Nordic Innovation a workshop was organized 8.12. 2011  in Copenhagen.

The aim of this joint initiative is to speed up and facilitate Nordic cooperation within the Innovative public procurement field, with specific emphasis on the Health sector. Another positive impact is hopefully alignment with EU initiatives as advocated in the Horizon 2020 strategy and upcoming EU work programmes.

The presentations from the workshop, including one on Preco-project findings,  can be found on the links to SlideShare from the news article below:

http://www.nordicinnovation.org/news/public-procurement-within-health-care-on-the-agenda-in-copenhagen/

High level event on Innovation / PCP / eHealth in Helsinki 13.10.2011

This Medi-Evening event was organized by key organizations of the Finnish eHealth Innovation scene  in collaboration with the Preco coordinator. The aim was to introduce PCP to wider audiences, which were mostly not familiar with PCP as an instrument. The keynote speech was delivered by Mr. Brian Winn from NHS National innovation Center. The subsequent discussion was supported by the Preco coordinator.

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The first PCP call for tender in Italy: a pilot project in South Tyrol

In October 2011, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano / Bozen, Italy, also known as South Tyrol, launched their first PCP “Closed Loop” call for tender to get radiotherapy appliances developed and supplied.

One of the first examples of true pre-commercial procurement call for tender to be set up in the European Union, the PCP call can be downloaded from the Bolzano Province official website www.bandi-altoadige.it along with all the relevant documents, forms and guidelines for participation. Available both in Italian and German, the call for tender has been set up according to the specific point of view of the local administrators and shared with the DG Information Society and Media  of the European Commission.

Local workshop for regional stakeholders was organised in June 2011 in Jihlava, main city of Vysocina Region.

•The feedback from the workshop:

In a centralized system of the NMS in transition, as in the Czech Republic, the application of a new approach as PCP for public procurement of innovation is difficult from administrative point of view. The indifferent position of a Ministry for Local Development, responsible for Public procurement procedures (no support, until PCP is accepted as a new legal nationally accepted procedure) provides no support. In this situation, when no nationally accepted PCP rules of application exist, the fear of  constrains with existing Public procurement procedures, fear of using unknown approaches, not supported by national PCP programme is present. Vysocina has suggested a strong political leadership for practical implementation of PCP approach, the example of which is provided by Vysocina Region (see Best practice –  eAmbulance Case).  The procurer (public administration) is mostly not able to manage the market, competition and the availability of appropriate suppliers in a non-transparent conditions for competitive environment, high level of corruption, fear of companies of losing know-how and IPRs. The need for a supportive competence centre at national or EU level is expressed as the recommendation.