ExpectedOutcome:
The successful proposal will be contributing to the European Green Deal related domains benefiting from further deployment, uptake and exploitation of Environmental Observation data and products. It will furthermore be contributing to fit-for-purpose Environmental Observation Systems and a strengthened Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS)[1].
Proposals are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- Customisation/pre-operationalisation of prototypes end-user services in the area Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, building on the Copernicus[2] Services that respond to the common needs and beyond state-of-the-art performance targets of the buyers group;
- Reduction of fragmentation of demand for innovative solutions by enabling public procurers to collectively implement a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) in the area of climate adaptation and mitigation, which, due to their nature, are better addressed jointly, or which they would not have been able to tackle independently;
- New opportunities for wide market uptake and economies of scale for the supply side through the use of joint specifications, wide publication of results and – where relevant – contribution to standardization, regulation or certification to remove barriers for introduction of innovations into the market and creation of new products, processes and/or services ready for market uptake, leading to viable new businesses, jobs and sustainable economic growth.
Scope:
This PCP – i.e. a joint procurement of research and development services - is launched to reinforce public demand driven innovation in end-user services in the area of climate adaptation and mitigation. PCP has the potential to be an effective demand side innovation action and a useful tool to close the gap between supply and demand for innovative solutions.
The PCP should deliver successful innovative and fully tested product(s) and/or service(s) that meet the common needs of a buyers' group (consortium of procurers) to procure research, develop innovative marketable solutions, speed up the time-to-market and provide best value for money.
Activities shall include:
- Preparation of the relevant documentation needed to launch and implement the procurement procedure;
- Joint research activities relating to the customisation/pre-operationalisation of prototypes end-user services in the area of climate change adaptation and mitigation validating the PCP strategy;
- Activities for the follow-up of the joint procurement, such as activities for awareness raising, networking, training, evaluation, validation and dissemination of results.
The proposal is expected to build on the outcomes coming from:
- HORIZON-CL6-2021-GOVERNANCE-01-15: Preparing for pre-commercial procurement (PCP) for end-user services based on environmental observation in the area of climate change adaptation and mitigation. The work done previously under Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe (e.g., from e-shape, climate service projects and downstream services projects);
- GEOSS initiatives.
The core of the consortium should be a qualified 'buyers group' (public procurement consortium), able to implement the action. Additional partners such as business/SME support organisations, innovation agencies or sectoral organisations may be included to assist procurers in knowing what is available on the market through market consultations.
The proposal should describe the jointly identified challenge, indicating how it fits into the mid-to-long-term innovation plans of the consortium, why solutions currently available on the market or under development are not meeting their needs, and put forward concrete targets for the desired functionality/performance improvement in the quality and efficiency of their public services.
The proposal should explain clearly how the creation of jobs, sustainable economic growth and new businesses will be assessed as an integral part of the successful application.
[1]https://www.earthobservations.org/geoss.php.
[2]https://www.copernicus.eu/en.
