Sustainable industry development through innovation promoting procurement

Important results from the project

The purpose of increasing the understanding of the studied innovation promoting procurement strategy and its effects has been achieved through data collection in terms of interviews and workshops as well as dissemination in terms of both industry presentations and scientific publications. Advice and guidelines for both public clients and suppliers have been presented and will be compiled and sent during the autumn to both the project parties involved and to the Swedish Transport Administration, which has shown great interest in the results.

Expected long term effects

The results are many and can have effects on how public clients procure and conduct their project in order to better utilize the suppliers´ competencies. Effects, both economic (right solutions in the right place and fewer establishments), social (better working conditions for the supplier and utilization of better work tools), as well as ecological (better utilization of materials and more electric machines) have been highlighted. Challenges have also been raised, most notably in procurement, which requires both resources and renewed skills within the client organization.

Approach and implementation

The project has been carried out as a case study of an innovation-promoting procurement with subsequent collaboration agreements implemented by Skellefteå municipality. 14 interviews were conducted with both parties. Complementary data from, observations (meetings and project offices), document studies (procurement documents and agreements), and workshops with project participants were also carried out. The material has been analyzed and conclusions have been discussed between the researchers but also sent out to selected project partners for review.