Already in its final year, the BRINC project has positioned itself as an Innovation Procurement Broker, bringing together public buyers and suppliers facilitating the development of innovative solutions to foster circular economy. To strengthen the network of BRINC public authorities, and facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience, project partners organised a workshop in Brussels on 19 March 2024. Moreover, several trainings on public procurement of innovation for public authorities and SMEs have been organised in these past months. 

Project partners organised a workshop in Brussels on 19 March 2024 which gathered the BRINC network of public authorities and other key relevant actors working on public procurement of innovation and circular economy to exchange insights and learn from mutual experiences in this field. 

Organised in parallel to the International conference on innovation procurement, this one-day workshop featured other initiatives at European and regional level striving towards the same goal: 

• The Public Buyers Community Platform
• The Flemish Region's Programme for Innovation Procurement 
• Sustainable public procurement strategy within Shifting Economy – Brussels Region
• The regional Public Procurement Action Plan of Catalonia (2022-2025)

Moreover, learnings from the two BRINC project cases (on single use sanitary waste and diaper recycling) were presented. Participants discussed the challenges and opportunities faced during the different stages of the procurement process.

In addition, a total of 10 training sessions for SMEs and public authorities were planned to be organised during the duration of the project. In these last months, partners have organised the following training sessions:

• Public procurement – Also for small companies? 1st SME training | 08 November 2023
• Organisational change for circular procurement - 3rd Public Authorities training | 29 November 2023
• What is Public Procurement? Learn how to navigate within Public Procurement – 2nd SME training | 11 January 2024
• Joint training for public authorities and SMEs focused on intellectual property rights in public procurement of Innovation 4th PA training and 3th SME training 25 January 2024,
• From idea to product with the help of Public Authorities  4th SME training | 18 April 2024

The last trainings for SMEs and Public Authorities will be the following:

• Funding innovation through public procurement 5th SME training | 30 May 2024
• The benefits of public buyers’ collaboration 5th PA training | 13 June 2024