EU-Wide Advantages and Opportunities – European Network of National Competence Centers for Innovation Procurement (HORIZON-EIE-2026-01-CONNECT-01)

1. Single Market Access

• Pan-European demand aggregation – Joint Pre-Commercial Procurements (PCP) and Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI) organised by transnational buyer groups instantly open a market of 450 + million citizens, multiplying the addressable turnover for suppliers.

• Early-adopter cascade – Solutions validated in one Member State can be rolled out through the network to the other 26, drastically shortening time-to-market and reducing customer acquisition costs for innovative SMEs and startups.

• Standardised tender platforms (TED/eForms) – Competence centres can train buyers to use EU eProcurement standards, making calls discoverable EU-wide and lowering transaction costs for suppliers.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Minimum consortium of 15 countries guarantees an unprecedented critical mass of expertise, lessons learned from pioneering PCP/PPI (e.g., NL, SE) and fresh perspectives from ‘moderate’/‘emerging’ innovators (e.g., BG, PT).

• Living-lab of joint procurements – Competence centres act as neutral conveners to form thematic buyer groups in strategic tech fields (cybersecurity, semiconductors, clean hydrogen), accelerating cross-border value chains.

• Staff exchange & twinning programmes reduce capacity asymmetries, professionalise procurers and create a self-sustaining community of practice.

3. Alignment with Key EU Policies

• Green Deal – Networked PCP/PPI can fast-track climate-neutral public services (zero-emission fleets, circular construction, energy-positive buildings).

• Digital & Data Strategy – Joint procurements for GovTech, AI, cloud-edge solutions reinforce Europe’s Digital Decade targets while embedding EU values (trust, privacy-by-design).

• New European Innovation Agenda & ERA Policy Agenda – Directly addresses Flagship 3 (Innovation Procurement) and strengthens innovation cohesion between leading and widening regions.

• Open Strategic Autonomy – Collective demand signals in critical technologies de-risk industry investments inside the EU, contributing to economic security.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & Legal Certainty

• Common templates & guidelines developed by the network lower legal barriers and litigation risks, ensuring conformity with the 2014 Public Procurement Directives and the recent Foreign Subsidy Regulation.

• Benchmarking & policy advice help Member States converge on coherent national innovation procurement frameworks (targets, KPIs, incentives), reducing fragmentation.

5. Access to Europe’s Innovation Ecosystem

• Proximity to 3 400+ European universities, 20 000+ research institutes and 300+ Digital Innovation Hubs via competence-centre matchmaking.

• Seamless links to EIC, EIT KICs, Enterprise Europe Network, Euroclusters and Startup Europe expand deal flow, investor visibility and technological breadth for suppliers responding to PCP/PPI.

6. Funding Synergies & Leverage

• Blending Horizon Europe with ESIF/ERDF, Recovery & Resilience Facility and InvestEU maximises co-investment, typically achieving 3-5× leverage on EU grants.

• National/regional vouchers or cascade-funding schemes channelled through competence centres can finance suppliers’ participation costs or pilot deployments.

• Pre-commercial R&D financed under Pillar II missions feeds directly into later PPI stages coordinated by the network, creating an end-to-end TRL pipeline.

7. Scale, Impact & Market Creation

• Target of >€500 m aggregated procurement volume over four years (ex-ante estimations based on average PCP/PPI budgets of previous Procure2Innovate partners).

• Systemic market penetration – Network ensures that successful innovations diffuse beyond ‘lighthouse’ buyers, potentially saving public administrations billions through improved efficiency.

• Evidence-based impact monitoring (common KPIs on CO₂ savings, SME participation rate, time-to-contract) enables continuous policy learning and showcases EU added value.

8. Strategic Value for Beneficiaries

• Public purchasers: risk-sharing, peer support, faster route to fit-for-purpose innovations.

• Startups/SMEs: reference customers in multiple countries, de-risked scaling, easier export inside EEA.

• Policymakers: ready-made platform to achieve National Reform Programme targets on innovation expenditure and digitalisation.

9. Contribution to Cohesion & Widening

• Mandatory inclusion of at least two ‘moderate/emerging’ innovator countries transfers know-how, tackles the 27 % capacity-building gap identified by EC benchmarking, and supports balanced territorial development.

• Smart Specialisation alignment – Competence centres can steer procurements towards regional S3 priorities, reinforcing place-based innovation.

10. Long-Term Sustainability & Legacy

• Business-model experimentation (membership fees, service contracts, training academies) will be piloted to keep centres operational post-grant.

• Open knowledge repository – All guidelines, toolkits and case studies released under Creative Commons bolster future Horizon projects and national reforms.

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Bottom Line: Building a pan-European network of innovation-procurement competence centres through this CSA multiplies the reach, efficiency and strategic impact of public purchasing power, turning the EU Single Market into a springboard for deep-tech solutions that serve citizens, strengthen the Union’s autonomy and close the innovation divide between regions.