The European Commission, in its guidance on innovation procurement (C (2018) 3051 final), adopts a broad vision of Innovation Procurement (IP), understanding it as “any procurement that has one or both of the following aspects:

•buying the process of innovation – research and development services – with (partial) outcomes;
•buying the outcomes of innovation created of others.

In the first instance, the public buyer buys the research and development services of products, services or processes, which do not exist yet. The public buyer describes its need, prompting businesses and researchers to develop innovative products, services or processes to meet the need. In the second instance, the public buyer, instead of buying off-the-shelf, acts as an early adopter and buys a product, service or process that is new to the market and contains substantially novel characteristics”.