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On 22 June 2026, the EINSTEIN project hosted its first dedicated exploitation webinar, bringing together participants from across the Stopless Borders Cluster<\/strong> for a 90-minute session on innovation procurement \u2014 and why it matters for the future of EU-funded security research.<\/p>\n The event, Introduction to Innovation Procurement<\/em>, was open to partner organisations and end users from across the Cluster, reflecting a recognition that the challenge of getting research results into operational use is one shared by every project in the portfolio, not just EINSTEIN alone.<\/p>\n Why Innovation Procurement?<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>The webinar opened with a question that sits at the heart of EINSTEIN’s exploitation work: what actually happens to project results when the funding ends?<\/em><\/p>\n Too often, the answer is: not enough. Technologies that have been developed, tested, and validated within Horizon Europe projects remain on the shelf \u2014 not because they lack value, but because the pathway from research output to public procurement is poorly understood by most research consortia, and underused by the public buyers who could deploy them.<\/p>\n Innovation procurement instruments \u2014 in particular Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP)<\/strong> and Public Procurement of Innovative Solutions (PPI)<\/strong> \u2014 exist to close that gap. The webinar set out to give participants a grounded, practical understanding of what these instruments are, when to use them, and how to begin applying them to EINSTEIN’s specific outputs.<\/p>\n What the Session Covered<\/strong><\/p>\n The programme was structured across four main sessions:<\/p>\n Introduction to Innovation Procurement<\/strong> provided a comprehensive overview of the EU landscape, covering:<\/p>\n A particular emphasis was placed on functional specifications<\/strong> \u2014 defining procurement requirements in terms of outcomes rather than prescribed technologies \u2014 as a proven approach to attracting innovative solutions from the market.<\/p>\n Innovation Procurement from the DG HOME Perspective<\/strong> brought the European Commission’s view on policy priorities for innovation procurement in the security sector, covering DG HOME’s instruments and direct experience supporting the uptake of Horizon Europe results.<\/p>\n Survey Results: Consortium Needs Analysis<\/strong> presented early findings from a survey of EINSTEIN consortium members conducted ahead of the webinar. The results were instructive:<\/p>\n These findings underline why this work is needed \u2014 and confirm that building procurement capability within the consortium is a genuine gap to address, not a box-ticking exercise.<\/p>\n Procurement Methodology for R&D Project Results<\/strong> closed the substantive content with a practical focus on the pathway from Horizon Europe research to procurement. Drawing on the iProcureNet<\/strong> methodology \u2014 developed over five years with 23 European procurers across 11 countries \u2014 the session covered how to select the right procurement instrument, how to structure a needs analysis, and what EINSTEIN partners can begin doing now to prepare for future procurement activity.<\/p>\n Speakers<\/strong><\/p>\n The session featured three speakers with complementary expertise:<\/p>\n James Ferryman<\/strong>, Professor of Computational Vision at the University of Reading, opened the webinar and set the exploitation context. Within EINSTEIN, James leads Work Package 7, which covers innovation management, exploitation strategy, and market uptake.<\/p>\n Jozef<\/span> Kubinec<\/strong>, Managing Director of Keennovate and former Director of the Methodology, Analytics and Innovation Procurement Department at the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic, led the main technical content. With over 15 years in government administration and direct involvement in Horizon Europe innovation procurement projects, Jozef<\/span> also served as a member of the European Commission’s CERIS expert group and SSRI sub-group. He presented both the conceptual framework and the iProcureNet methodology results.<\/p>\n\n
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