PPI4MED’S training programme on Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) was designed in two phases: training of trainers, and national capacitation programme. This second phase had a general module, and one specific module, which was different for the two types of students: public officers and entities, which are the ones that have the capacity for buying innovation; and researchers, private companies and research property owners, in summary the sellers of innovation.

October 2023 marked the end of the PPI4MED’s training programe on PPI. All partners of the PPI4MED consortium have worked during many months on delivering the expected results of the capacitation programme to the many students that took part of it in all participating countries. The course took into account the idiosincrasy of each project partner, and they adjusted the contents and form of delivery to the particularities and needs of their own country. For example, Italy had a full-on face to face course, while the Spainish one was completely online. Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt opted for a hybrid mode.

On 5^th June 2023, the Phase 1 of the training programme on PPI, the “Training of Trainers (ToT)” was launched in an online session that gathered all the experts selected by the countries. During the three sessions of this ToT, the CSIC´s team, Lead Beneficiary of the project, presented PPI4MED and the platform that had been developed for the capacitation programme. They also introduced to the experts Public Procurement of Innovation as an innovation instrument, as well as the material developed by the Lead Beneficiary’s team and that should be adapted to each country’s needs by the experts and thoroughly studied during the legal, technical, and financial masterclasses. These materials were focused on the legal, technical, and financial aspects of Public Procurement of Innovation as an innovation instrument to transfer knowledge from national research centers to public administrations, as well as many useful case studies to be presented during those masterclasses.

After the Training of Trainers phase was completed, and all local experts properly trained in PPI and the PPI4MED model, each country launched its National Capacitation Programme. To do so beforehand they had to adapt the material to each partner country’s situation regarding PP and PPI.

The course had been divided into two modules: general and specific modules. The general module was the same for all students, however the specific one was different for buyers and sellers of innovation. In the two modules they learnt about the legal, technical, and financial aspects of PPI, through more than 30 hours of training videos, masterclasses and case studies. All the partners followed the same structure and used the same training videos and content available in the platform, given that they had been developed by the Lead Beneficiary’s team for the whole consortium. The videos were in English, but included a voice-over in Arabic, Spanish and French, so they could be easy understood by all students. The partners adjusted the content to be taught during the masterclasses and case studies to the particularities of their countries. They also chose the format that worked best for each country, varying between face to face events, online sessions or hybrid format. The final test, which was required to be passed to obtain the certificate of completion, was the same one for all partner countries, and it was focused on the main and most important concepts on PPI taught during both the training videos, the masterclasses and the case studies.

After a long training course 88 students completed the entire course across all countries, 72 from the public administrations and 16 from private businesses, therefore receiving a certificate of completion.

After the capacitation programme was completed, all partners distributed the same survey to all participants. The results were carefully analyzed by the partnership, and overall, the results were positive and the students were satisfied with the training they have received.