1. SMART SPP news

SMART SPP kick-off meeting gets the project underway

A successful SMART SPP kick off meeting was held on the 7th and 8th October 2008 in Brussels with the presence of Lieve Bos (European Commission DG Information and Society) and Vasco Janeiro (EACI).
 
Presentations from project partners from Denmark, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom set the scene for working on this three-year project, especially looking into best practise for early market engagement and procurement of sustainable innovation.

SMART SPP on the move!

Work on SMART SPP is already well underway. Four studies are conducted to ascertain what state of the art approaches and tools for innovation and pre-procurement currently exist. Lessons learned from market sounding, competitive dialogue and pre-commercial procurement as well as on mitigating legal, technical and financial risks have been analysed. Additionally, existing tools to evaluate the whole lifecycle costs (including purchase/leasing price, maintenance, operational and disposal costs) and the availability of suitable CO₂ assessment tools to communicate the environmental relief obtained have been screened.

Furthermore, interviews have been conducted with different department representatives in the participating public authorities and with suppliers working on emerging technologies in order to assess their specific needs for early market engagement.

The studies will be available online (www.smart-spp.eu) in April 2009 in form of a combined report.   

Procura⁺ Seminar 2008

SMART SPP was the focus of a Procura⁺ Seminar on 'smarter engagement with the market' held on the
6-7 November 2008 hosted by Birmingham City Council. Over 50 people attended from a number of public authorities and other relevant organisations such as the UK National Procurement Stakeholder Group.

The Procura⁺ Seminar provided an excellent opportunity for local and regional government representatives from across Europe to exchange experiences on using the pre-procurement phase to make smarter purchasing decisions, facilitate dialogues between procurers and suppliers, and reduce their cities' CO₂ emissions.

Click here to download the presentations from the Procura⁺ website.  

2. Get involved in SMART SPP!

Become a participating public authority

Public authorities may participate in the implementation phase of the pilot at their own cost – participating in the pilot involves implementing the standard process for early market engagement, driving the adoption of the innovations developed through the project and ultimately incorporating its recommendations in at least one tender.

Benefits of participating include:

• The opportunity to purchase emerging technologies that deliver improvements in performance over existing technologies, and
• Access to assistance and advice on using a tailor-made pre-procurement process to increase efficiency in current procurement practices.

Become a participating public supplier

SMART SPP is seeking the involvement of suppliers and developers of emerging technologies in the product and service groups listed above. Suppliers and developers can get involved in pre-procurement discussions with public authorities.

Benefits of participating include:

• Boost your Research and Development (R&D) activities on low emission technologies and solutions, and
• Increase your presence and visibility at the forefront of sustainable innovations throughout Europe.

Stay informed about SMART SPP

Observers will receive the SMART SPP update, invitations to dissemination events and access to all project documents.

3. SMART SPP in your region

United Kingdom
LED lighting trials in the UK

One of the technologies that will be a focus of the SMART SPP   project is LED lighting systems. Specifically, industrial grade LEDs which have the capability of matching any type of alternative/conventional technology in terms of light output.

The London Borough of Bromley and the Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation are currently looking into pre-procurement activities relating to LED lighting systems.

Together with national SMART SPP partner, Global to Local, these public authorities will be closely observing the results of a number of LED trials occurring in the UK. One major hotel in London has been using LED technology for nearly two years and there are other sites trialling it at present. These trials indicate that up to 80% of energy can be saved and cost savings are considerable.  An example of this is a small hospital which used 65 LED units in a ward and over a ten year period the cost savings were in the region of £150,000.

Denmark
The Municipality of Kolding to focus on pre-procurement of lighting systems

One of the first outcomes of the SMART SPP project was a needs assessment for the Municipality of Kolding. The main needs identified were: assistance with assessing legal risks in pre-procurement, especially on competitive dialogue schemes and the development of Life Cycle Costing and CO₂ assessment tools, designed for advanced procurement activities.

Kolding chose to focus on finding innovative, energy efficient alternatives to standard lighting such as fluorescent light tubes for room and desk lighting across Kolding municipal buildings. The lighting system should be compatible with existing light casings and have a short payback time. Furthermore, solutions in the field of LED-lighting and passive lighting (light tubes) will be explored.

The pre-procurement process developed through SMART SPP will be tested on a tender for a 2-year framework contract for lighting services (including maintenance and light bulbs) that will be renewed in April 2011.

Spain
Barcelona City Council discusses technology options

The SMART SPP project has taken off successfully in Barcelona City Council, the Spanish public authority partner in the project.

On the 24 November 2008 an internal city council meeting was held with representatives from a range of departments from across the municipality. All participants were very interested in collaborating and participating in the SMART SPP project. The participants discussed the potential to work on a number of emerging technologies including: lightning, traffic lights and other traffic signals, RES cooling, hybrid/electric cars, motorcycles and buses.

After the meeting, the decision, both from the City Council and Ecoinstitut Barcelona (the Spanish regional coordinator partner), was to go on working with all interested Departments.

Portugal
The Municipality of Torres Vedras joins the Municipality of Cascais as SMART SPP associated public authority

In Portugal, lighting systems and highly energy efficient electric vehicles (especially passenger cars) were identified as the most interesting products for pre-procurement activities.

The Municipality of Torres Vedras became an associated public authority in SMART SPP project, joining INETI and the Municipality of Cascais in regional activities.

Contacts with company Energia Viva/Exporlux, which operates as LED lighting producer and offers financial services for initial investment costs and maintenance were made and co-operation is envisaged, namely the trial of LED lighting in one street in Cascais or Torres Vedras.

4. Other initiatives

Sustainable NOW drives energy efficiency

One of several other projects running alongside SMART SPP and co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme of the European Commission is the Sustainable NOW project: "European Sustainable Energy Communities - effective Integrated Local Energy Action today". The project aims to strengthen the role of local and regional governments in guiding their communities in the sustainable energy transition period.

Sustainable NOW will increase the understanding of non-technical energy and management aspects, address capacity building, as well as encourage peer exchange and reviews to create an environment of tangible results. Further to this, it aims at the extensive involvement of local and regional actors, to share knowledge gained and tools produced.

The 15 partner consortium, led by ICLEI, is formed by: City of Bourgas (Bulgaria); City of Miskolc (Hungary); Woking Borough Council (United Kingdom); Trecodome (Netherlands); Rosignano Marittimo, Mountain Community,  City of Bologna, Province of Siena,  Italian Local Agenda 21 Association and Banca Popolare Etica (Italy); City of Ludwigsburg, City of München, Climate Alliance and ecovision (Germany).

The Sustainable NOW project website is currently under development. Please contact Cristina Garzillo from ICLEI for further information.

5. Events

EcoProcura 2009: Climate neutral through procurement
25-27 March 2009, Rekjavik, Iceland

The EcoProcura 2009 conference "Climate Neutral through Procurement", to be held in Reykjavik (Iceland) on 25-27 March 2009, features a packed and highly interactive programme, and will provide an ideal opportunity to exchange and learn about how sustainable procurement can contribute to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

A number of sessions will address topics relevant to pre-procurement for innovation including a session that discusses supplier engagement and a Market Lounge designed to facilitate face-to-face discussions on key topics, receive expert advice and learn about innovative products and services.

The conference will present and discuss:

• the importance of sustainable procurement in the global climate debate,
• how sustainable procurement can support climate mitigation and adaptation strategies,
• improving dialogue between public authority procurers and suppliers,
  how sustainable procurement can drive innovation and act as a launching pad for new sustainable technologies.

Confirmed speakers include representatives from the European Commission and the United Nations Environment programme, front-runner cities such as Vienna, Malmö and Barcelona, together with international organisations such as the Responsible Purchasing Network (US) and the International Green Purchasing Network (IGPN) and many others. The latest programme is now online.

Website www.iclei.org/ecoprocura2009
Email ecoprocura2009@iclei.org

Sustainable Innovation 09: Towards a Low Carbon Innovation Revolution
26-27 October, 2009, Farnham, United Kingdom

Sustainable Innovation 09 - Towards a Low Carbon Innovation Revolution is being organised by the Centre for Sustainable Design in the UK. The conference is currently requesting conference papers on topics relevant to SMART SPP including market transformation, regional approaches, sustainable public procurement and innovation processes, as well as supply chain management, product-related carbon footprinting, methodologies and case studies.

Website http://www.cfsd.org.uk/events/tspd14/index.html
Email mcharter@ucreative.ac.uk

i-SUP2010 2nd International Conference on Innovation for Sustainable Production
18-21 April, 2010, Bruges, Belgium

The 2^nd International Conference on Innovation for Sustainable Production 2010 in Bruges was announced in December 2008. This conference will cover a range of themes relevant to the SMART SPP project including:

• Sustainable Production
• Sustainable Energy
• Materials for Sustainable Production

The first call for abstracts for this conference will begin in February 2009.

Website http://www.i-sup2010.org/index.htm
Email info@i-sup2010.org