Zaharieva staffer Manuel Aleixo talks plans to boost confidence in buying innovative solutions from EU start-ups
Manuel Aleixo, expert in the cabinet of research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva. Photo credits: Bogdan Hoyaux / European Union
Public bodies in the EU need to be reassured that it is safe to buy innovative solutions from start-ups, according to Manuel Aleixo, a senior aide to research Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva. This innovation procurement can be an important source of funding once start-ups have a product to sell, spurring their development and reducing the need for them to relocate outside Europe.
“Innovation procurement is often the first port of call, the first customer for innovative companies,” Aleixo said during a webinar organised by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology on February 11. “As we see in the US, [it] functions very much as a demand lever for innovation and for start-ups.”
According to European Commission data, innovation procurement amounts to 20% of all procurement in the US, driven by the federal government. In the EU, it is just over 10%, a gap that Aleixo links to the absence of clear legal rules.
“Anybody [. . .] who is in the position of…
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