Small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) access to public procurement is quite limited. Still, the public sector can play an important role in helping companies overcome a classic market failure: finding a first group of customers for their innovative products and services. 

This competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (COSME) call for proposals, with a budget of €1.5 million, will support beneficiaries, who will act as innovation procurement brokers, to develop and implement a sustainable method for facilitating public procurement of innovation.

In particular, this action will launch a second experimentation of the ‘innovation procurement broker model’ with the aim of demonstrating the relevance and effectiveness of the cooperation model between various stakeholders, who promote innovation through public procurement and support economic operators, in particular SMEs and start-ups. 

The call targets business support organisation for SMEs and organisations having experience with support for innovation procurement to public buyers. The beneficiary should act as broker between innovative products (created by SMEs and start-ups) and public buyers. A specific focus will be on topics related to healthcare, environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, mobility and transport issues, digital transformation, and modernisation of public services.

Two proposals are expected to be funded, with a maximum grant per project of €750,000.

Find out more here.