The Directorate-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, with the support of consultancy from the European Investment Bank, aims to explore the potential of creating a new financial product to mitigate the financial risks associated with using “traditional” financial instruments in public procurement for innovation. Through this initiative, financial investors under the InvestEU program could provide public contracting authorities across Europe with an easy-to-use solution to reduce risks in innovation procurement.

Public buyers still perceive innovation procurement as too risky to carry out with their regular budgets and face difficulties using existing financial products (such as standard bank loans). The mission’s goal is to mitigate these risks so that these entities are more inclined to engage in public procurement of R&D&I, thereby stimulating the development, testing, and adoption of innovative solutions.

The feasibility of introducing various financial instruments to address these risks will be investigated. These could take the form of loans, guarantees, performance bonds, or alternatives such as insurance or equity participation.

This initiative, lasting 12 months—from March 2024 to March 2025—begins with a comprehensive market analysis, including surveys, desk research, interviews, and focus groups.

All public buyers and suppliers operating in the European market are invited to contribute to this market analysis by completing the corresponding survey:

If you are a public buyer, you can contribute here.

If you are a company, you can contribute here.