Empowering Cities to Innovate: How PPI4Cities is Changing Public Procurement Across the Baltic Sea Region

Across the Baltic Sea Region, cities are under pressure to deliver better, smarter, and more sustainable public services – but innovation doesn’t always come easily. Many municipalities struggle to translate their ambitions into practice, facing complex rules, limited resources, and uncertainty about how to procure something truly new.

That’s where the PPI4Cities initiative stepped in. Co-funded by the Interreg Baltic Sea Region Programme, the project brought together municipalities, innovation agencies, and research institutions with a shared mission: to make Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI) a practical and powerful tool for smarter urban development.

From Ambition to Action: The PPI4Cities Platform

At the heart of the project stands PPI4cities.eu – a digital platform designed to guide public authorities through every step of the innovation procurement journey.

The platform brings together an integrated suite of assessment tools, best practices, AI-based guidance, and learning materials, all tailored to the needs of cities in the Baltic Sea Region. It helps municipalities assess their readiness for PPI, explore real-life examples, and learn how to engage the market early to find the right partners and solutions.

In 2024, these tools were tested in real-world settings through local pilots, which provided valuable feedback to refine the platform. Today, PPI4cities.eu stands as a one-stop resource for any city ready to take the next step toward innovation-driven public services.

“PPI4Cities was created to bridge the gap between innovation potential and real implementation capacity in cities,” says Justė Rakštytė, Senior Project Manager at the Lithuanian Innovation Centre, the project’s lead partner. “We wanted to make public procurement of innovation not just a legal process, but a creative and strategic journey that any municipality can undertake with confidence. The platform gives them the structure, tools, and community to do exactly that.”

Co-Creation in Practice: The CityLab Methodology

Alongside the platform, the project introduced CityLab – a co-creation approach that helps cities identify real needs and engage the market early. Instead of starting procurement with rigid specifications, CityLabs bring together local stakeholders – from citizens to suppliers – to co-define challenges and explore innovative ways to solve them.

CityLab sessions were piloted in several municipalities, creating spaces where creativity met practicality. Participants learned how to translate urban challenges into procurement goals, improving their ability to design tenders that encourage innovation rather than restrict it. The lessons learned from these pilots have now been turned into practical recommendations and guidelines for future CityLabs across the region.

Building Capacity and Community

Beyond tools and methods, PPI4Cities has built a community of practice across borders. Throughout the project’s implementation, partners organised peer exchanges, workshops, and local seminars where cities shared their experiences, challenges, and lessons learned. These activities strengthened mutual understanding and created an open environment for learning.

City representatives, policy experts, and innovation practitioners connected through these exchanges, forming a growing network of professionals committed to advancing public procurement of innovation. This community spirit has become one of PPI4Cities’ greatest achievements – ensuring that the knowledge, tools, and inspiration developed during the project will continue to evolve long after its completion.

A Lasting Impact for the Baltic Sea Region and Beyond

By combining digital tools, co-creation methods, and transnational collaboration, PPI4Cities has made innovation procurement more accessible, understandable, and actionable for cities of all sizes. The project’s legacy – the PPI4Cities platform and the CityLab methodology – continues to support municipalities in shaping smarter, greener, and more sustainable urban futures.

The project’s story proves one simple idea: innovation can start anywhere – even in the way we buy things.

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