The National Centre for Research and Development (NCRD), Jordanian partner of PPI4MED, started working on Public Procurement of Innovation by organising a first webinar as a starting point to set up a living lab on the topic. It was organised on 5th May 2021. This webinar was important to understand the context of innovation in Jordan and what are the main challenges to promote it. The webinar marked the first of a long series of meetings totaling the active participation of 250 people during 2.5 years.

During this period, the Jordanian partner also signed 17 Memoranda of Understandings:  6 with governmental institutions, 7 with research centres and 3 from the private sector and 1 NGO (7 public procurer´s buyers and 10 sellers).

The NCRD also created a virtual national sectorial platform (brainstorming sessions from September 2022 until November 2022) targeting 5 sectors (health, agriculture, energy, water and transportation). This platform enabled public authorities and public procurers to discuss their needs and challenges, researchers and companies showed their capacities to resolve the challenges and needs by offering solutions and patents that could be commercialized. A total of 85 representatives from the government, private sector, universities, and research centres, attended these sessions and 44 needs were identified. A total of 30 patents (16 in health, 3 in agriculture, 6 in transportation and engineering, 1 in water and 4 in environment) were analysed, and around 10 were initially selected as potential projects for commercialization.

Out of the 44 needs identified, 14 needs tackled agriculture, 14 were on water, 10 on energy and transport and 6 in health) which clearly confirms that the main priorities in Jordan focused on water and food security.

Once the living lab was set and the needs analysed, a training program was conducted in two phases, the first hybrid training lasted for 3 days from 21 August 2023 to 23 August 2023 at Hilton Dead Sea Hotel in JORDAN and was attended by a total of 107 participants (78 participants in the face-to-face format and 29 participants online from 43 various institutions), 17 Public Buyers institutions nominated 36 representatives to attend the program,15 Seller Private institutions nominated 20 representatives to attend the program  and 11 Seller from Universities and Research centers institutions nominated 22 representatives to attend the program. During the program, the trainers presented lectures on the foundations of applying the Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) model from the technical, financial and legal aspects, in addition to introducing the model’s mechanisms. Some experimental models were presented in other countries, and the participants worked as teams to implement a practical application of the stages of the Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) model. Three real-life case studies were presented where the representatives of the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Water and Irrigation got engaged in applying the PPI procedures on 3 innovative products: a mouth sanitizer, a smart agriculture irrigation system, and a wastewater treatment solution.

The participants were encouraged to continue their training through the access of PPI4MED training platform to watch the videos and material and prepare for taking the exam before 20^th October 2023. 42 participants passed the exam (10 public procurers´ buyers and 19 sellers). 

NCRD organized an event on October 17-18/10/2023 a Public Procurement Innovation Conference and Exhibition at Philadelphia University. 52 Participants(27 public procurers buyers and 25 Sellers )attended the event. 4 startup companies potential spinoffs in (Energy , Agriculture , and Water sectors ) presented their products and services.

PPI white paper and Implementing a pilot of Public Procurement of Innovation in Jordan

A white paper on Public Procurement of Innovation was developed and published, the activity was carried out by the Policymaker group created in Jordan, A total of 21 Members participated in 6 meetings, Representatives From 9 public procurers buyers and 9 Sellers. NCRD organized PPI Pilot Development Results Event on Sunday 29-10-2023.

As part of PPI4MED project, , each partner tried to implement a pilot experiment to assess and test the feasibility of this new tool and how to adapt it to make public procurement of innovation a reality. In Jordan, the implementation of PPI Pilot required signing agreements with public procurers to adopt the PPI Model into their current R&D funding model. Two public procurers were identified through the living lab meetings and pre-competitive analysis as potential PPI: the Ministry of Higher Education (Scientific Research & Innovation Support fund) and the National Agriculture Research Center. An Agreement was signed on 10/9/2023 and on 14/9/2023 for the PPI pilot development.

A pre-competitive analysis was conducted and from this document, 4 challenges were selected for a Preliminary Market Consultation (PMC):

• Challenge I: Innovative methods for early detection of the red date palm weevil
• Challenge II: Ensuring the quality and traceability of organic agricultural products
• Challenge III: Dam water management
• Challenge IV: Innovative methods for cancer

The NCRD on behalf of the National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) and the Scientific Research Fund (SRF) published a national call for a PMC on the 8^th October 2023. By the end of the procedure, 2 solutions were received for each challenge and a white paper about Public Procurement of Innovation should be presented to the Jordanian government.

For more info about the results achieved in Jordan: click here.