IÖB-ENERGY - Public procurement for intelligent urban energy solutions

Project objective

For the long-term implementation of Smart City strategies, the potential of the realisation of innovation-promoting public procurement in Austria is evaluated. Topics are (i) innovative building technologies, (ii) urban energy systems and (iii) urban planning systems. The results lead to recommendations for future priority setting for public procurers.

Initial situation/motivation

Although it generally applies to Austria that environmental standards are high, there is considerable need for action - in particular - in the public sector: both with regard to the energy goals to be achieved and with regard to the exemplary effect of public institutions (image, reference projects, positive exercise of market power). The project should contribute to enriching the existing Smart City strategies in Austria with implementation-oriented innovation solutions for the public sector and, in addition, pave the way for concrete cases of innovation-promoting procurement. This includes the treatment of the different approaches for innovation-promoting public procurement according to BVergG 2018, such as negotiation procedures, competitive dialogues and innovation partnerships, as well as other approaches such as pre-commercial procurement (PCP) and R&D funding, which take future procurement needs into account.

Methodical approach

In the project national and international experiences with approaches for innovation-promoting public procurement with relevance for intelligent urban energy solutions were summarised by means of research and document analyses. Subsequently, an overview of possible fields of application and innovation opportunities for public procurement in the three thematic fields was compiled from a scientific point of view; the actual needs from the point of view of the Austrian procurers were identified, and the readiness for the application of approaches for innovation-promoting public procurement was sounded out in stakeholder workshops. The scientific and the procurers' perspectives were compared in a specially developed classification system in order to derive priority topics. Finally, recommendations for future priorities for innovation-promoting public procurement were derived from the project results.

Results: The experiences from national and international innovation-promoting public procurement projects, the scientific findings and in particular the views of the procurers from the workshops were condensed into the following recommendations within the framework of the project: (i) to promote the implementation of existing decarbonisation technologies; (ii) to adapt existing standardisation in order to obstruct/delay decarbonisation; (iv) to orientate towards a balance between low-tech and high-tech/digitalisation; (v) to consider the balance between lighthouse projects and multiplicable projects; (vi) installing people who care for energy/procurement in procurement organisations; (vii) ensuring external (policy) and internal (hierarchy) support; and (vii) addressing the increased research needs, especially for the nine identified technologies. The recommendations drawn up are relevant for various target groups: public procurers, policy representatives, service providers and funding organisations.

Prospects/Suggestions for future research

The project results were condensed into recommendations for future priorities for procurers, which can be included in the corresponding funding programmes.

Project management

AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH

Project or cooperation partner

e7 Energie Markt Analyse GmbH

Mag. Eva Buchinger
AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH
Donau-City-Straße 1
A-1220 Wien
Tel.: +43 (5) 0550 – 4543
Fax: +43 (5) 0550 – 4599
E-mail: eva.buchinger@ait.ac.at
Web: www.ait.ac.at
Web: https://www.ait.ac.at/ueber-das-ait/center/center-for-innovation-systems-policy/ioeb-innovationsfoerdernde-oeffentliche-beschaffung/