The PPI GO project aimed to strengthen Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) as a lever for an innovative, sustainable, and inclusive economy, in alignment with EU policies. To this end, it sought to introduce the role of the PPI Manager, highlighting their role as a guide for public administrations (PAs) in adopting PPI, optimizing practices for innovative procurements; a support factor for SMEs/startups in accessing and participating in procurements; a platform to facilitate cooperation between PAs and businesses for the development/adoption of innovative solutions; a training path to ensure mutual knowledge and perception of PAs and SMEs regarding innovative procurements; a tool to foster technological innovation, promoting territorial development; an element to create public-private partnerships; support for cohesion policies.
The decision to participate in this project stemmed from the observation that "Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions – Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI)" has been identified by the European Commission as a key tool to promote innovation and encourage industries to invest in research and development. Recognizing the public sector's purchasing power as a catalyst for the early adoption of innovative solutions. The project aimed to address a series of concrete needs of public administrations, characterized by a widespread lack of attitude towards adopting innovations and the absence of specialized personnel for innovative integration with SMEs and industries, as well as for companies, especially SMEs and innovative startups, which have a limited perception of the growth opportunities offered by public procurement. PPI GO was, therefore, designed to tackle these issues, introducing training content and tools to improve the understanding and implementation of PPI.