Procurement Act comes into force message from Rikesh Shah, Head of IPEC The new Procurement Act provides a greater focus for everyone in the public sector (not just commercial managers) to use their budgets to create new value by bringing in innovation from the market. With the financial challenges facing… Read More
Fumi Kitagawa is a Professor in Regional Economic Development at the University of Birmingham. She works at the City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI) based in Birmingham Business School, and leads the IPEC Research team at the University of Birmingham. Here, she tells us about her career to date, her… Read More
Elvira Uyarra is a Professor of Innovation Studies at Alliance Manchester Business School (University of Manchester) and Director of the Manchester Institute of Innovation Research. She is also an investigator at the ESRC-funded The Productivity Institute. Professor Uyarra’s work sits at the intersection between innovation studies, policy studies… Read More
End of Year Message from Rikesh Shah, Head of IPEC As 2024 draws to a close, I want to take a moment to reflect on a very productive year for the Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC). It has been a year of significant progress, marked by collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and tangible impact… Read More
The Connected Places Catapult welcomes the Government’s consultation on a new Industrial Strategy. As the UK’s innovation accelerator for transport, cities and place leadership we are excited about the opportunity this represents. We are encouraged by the strong focus on the importance of unlocking the complexities of place, as well… Read More
The Government Commercial Function has officially announced the new Procurement Act 2023 go-live date is Monday 28 October 2024. This development signifies a strategic departure from the existing procurement regulations derived from the European Union. Read More
Procurement is a powerful lever for innovation, with the UK public sector spending £380bn annually and local government alone accounting for over £60bn. But how well is this potential being harnessed to drive innovation and create better public outcomes? The IPEC First Annual Sentiment Analysis 2023-24 sheds light on the… Read More
IPEC is delighted to be supporting Westminster Council in their innovation procurement exercise to invite innovators to submit a proposal to trial their solution that can help reduce the emissions in commercial cooking. About the Commercial cooking project Air quality in Westminster continues to be a significant environmental challenge, affecting… Read More
Twenty-five organisations from Great Britain including some of our largest metropolitan authorities gathered at the UK Pavilion – hosted by Connected Places Catapult – inside Barcelona’s Gran Via conference centre between 5 and 7 November. They were there for three days of networking and to discuss the latest technologies and… Read More
Why persevere with outdated processes if they don’t lead to desired outcomes? When it comes to infrastructure delivery, one senior academic says more emphasis should be placed on investigating new approaches that work – and replicating them on future schemes. Ian Heptinstall spent much of his career in building services,… Read More
