Eight teams are participating in an effort to bring the Demand Acceleration methodology to a national level. Helsingborg is also in the starting pits for a sharp procurement, and is looking for innovative solutions that can radically reduce the city's emissions.
The Demand Acceleration methodology has been developed within the DigitalWell Arena. It combines public procurement with innovation. In concrete terms, innovation work is procured, not finished products and services. So far, the methodology has been tested once in practice when the municipality of Karlstad procured a virtual training tool for healthcare personnel. Karlstad is now in the starting pits for another procurement.
Create an educational concept together
In the investment that is now being carried out ("Train the Trainer"), the focus is on creating a training concept, so that more actors in the innovation sphere can process procurements. Marie-Louise Eriksson and Jakob Lindvall lead two intensive training days in Stockholm. In total, around 30 people participate, divided into eight teams, geographically spread from Jämtland to Skåne. The training places were booked quickly – despite minimal marketing.
Jakob Lindvall and Marie-Louise Eriksson led the training on behalf of DigitalWell Arena - and have also created a first handbook to support Demand Acceleration procurement.
According to Jakob Lindvall, it's about "training trainers", where all participants add specialist skills that can develop the Demand Acceleration methodology.
- The manual you receive is version 0.8. Together we can make it even much better... Before we ask Chat GPT to translate it into all the languages of the world, he said a little jokingly during the opening speech.
Karlstad stands model
The theoretical principles behind Demand Acceleration and the experiences from Karlstad's procurement are the basis of the training. At the same time, the "pilot process" created in close collaboration between Karlstad and DigitalWell Arena must now be supplemented and shaped into a nationally scalable model.
- We anticipate adaptations in the methodology based on the context. For example, there is a huge difference between procuring products and system solutions, but the mindset and principles of Demand Acceleration still form the core. We also want to gain a deeper understanding of what is obvious, what is new and what is important from an educational perspective. There is a lot of "silent knowledge" that needs to be made visible, says Marie-Louise Eriksson.
Niklas Tideklev took Norrköping and Linköping Science Park with him to build new innovation capacity in Östergötland.
Niklas Tideklev, business and innovation strategist in Region Östergötland, had invited Norrköping and Linköping Science Park to the educational initiative. Their ambition is to build their own regional capacity to be able to process procurement.
- I think there is an interest both in the municipalities and the region, but the public sector will find it difficult to procure itself according to the Demand Accelerator methodology. Therefore, it is central that this knowledge is spread to more intermediaries, says Niklas Tideklev.
Several teams are made up of established constellations with the capacity to carry out tenders together. There are also advertisements for potential procurements, for example Borås Science Park has stakeholders who want to develop circular models for work clothes. And Peak Innovation has ideas about how the methodology could be used to stimulate regional growth.
Sharp procurement in Helsingborg
Helsingborg is the only public actor that participates in the training without the company of an intermediary. In parallel, they will start a sharp procurement with the support of DigitalWell Arena. The ambition is to find innovative solutions that can radically reduce the climate footprint from the municipality's public consumption. A consumption that annually includes SEK 3.4 billion and 115,000 tons of CO2e.
Ann-Sophie Gustafsson, development manager at Karlstad municipality, had to play a leading role as a representative of the only municipality that procured with the support of Demand Acceleration.
Despite the geographical spread of the teams, varying backgrounds and conditions, it is still easy to find a common denominator, says Marie-Louise Eriksson:
- Everyone has a mission to drive innovation from a regional perspective, and sees that public procurement is a tool that should be able to do that. Now both they and we are curious about how it can happen through Demand Acceleration.
In addition to new knowledge, an expanded network and interesting discussions, the participants also gained a completely new one manual about the methodology. It is released under a creative common license, which means that the material can be freely developed further.
The teams participating in the venture:
- Peak Innovation, Östersund Municipality and Region Jämtland Härjedalen
- Linköping Science Park, Norrköping Science Park and Region Östergötland
- Leap for Life, Region Halland and Varberg municipality
- Kista Science City
- All Age Hub and Sahlgrenska Science Park
- Borås Science Park and Smart Textiles
- The World Wildlife Fund / WWF Sweden
- The city of Helsingborg
