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How public spending can facilitate change

In the years to come, we face significant challenges within climate, health and exclusion. The report from the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is a powerful reminder that we quickly need new scalable solutions. How can we bring together different parties in the supply chain to develop more sustainable products and services to citizens?

The public sector is the largest combined customer for Norwegian businesses and spends around 60 billion euros each year on products and services through public tenders. What if public procurement could be used to profit from the citizens and industry’s creative potential for innovation? This creates opportunities for innovative businesses and benefits the public sector. Public spending in the Nordics can be used strategically towards a socially and economically sustainable future.

In this session we learn how 11 Nordic cities has come together in a joint Nordic procurement process to provide zero emission delivery of goods, greener solutions, and how the public sector cooperate across borders.

Working in close collaboration with public buyers and suppliers, Norway’s National Programme for Supplier Development («LUP») was established to accelerate the use of public procurement as a strategic tool to achieve demand-driven and citizen-friendly solutions. Through their work, they bring together partners from several sectors to solve everyday challenges.

Speaker
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Per Harbø is Programme Director at Norway’s National Programme for Supplier Development (LUP). Harbø has led the work on public-private innovation and supplier’s development through a large number of innovation processes. He holds a management background from the private sector, and an educational background in economics and communication with an emphasis on relations and liaison skills. Harbø leads a team of 10 dedicated innovation brokers in Norway, all with the mandate to accelerate innovations and development of new solutions through the strategic use of public procurements, while at the same time contributing to new market opportunities for these innovations.

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