The European Lab for Innovative Purchasing and Supply (EL-IPS) at the University of Twente is keen to join or form a consortium for the upcoming Horizon Europe call on "Empowering Sustainable Food Choices – Enabling Environments and Dietary Shifts"

We believe public procurement is a powerful lever to create sustainable food environments and influence dietary shifts. Our team can contribute by:
• Designing Innovative Procurement Strategies: Developing policies and practices prioritising sustainable, healthy food options in public institutions such as schools, hospitals, and government agencies.
• Enhancing Food Accessibility and Affordability: Leveraging supply chain optimisation to make sustainable foods more available and cost-effective for all societal groups.
• Policy Development and Analysis: Crafting and evaluating policies that support inclusive food environments, aligning with the call's emphasis on sustainability and social equity.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Facilitating multi-stakeholder collaborations across academia, industry, government, and society to ensure broad-based support and impact.

We Can Offer:
• Interdisciplinary Expertise: Our interdisciplinary approach bridges gaps between social sciences, policy studies, and supply chain management.
• Proven Track Record: Success in previous projects demonstrates our ability to drive innovation in procurement and implement practical solutions.
• Capacity Building: Committed to educational initiatives, we can contribute to the consortium's capacity-building efforts through specialised training and dissemination activities.
• Impact-Driven Approach: Experienced in developing robust Impact Plans and Theories of Change, ensuring the project's outcomes align with Horizon Europe's objectives.

The European Lab for Innovative Purchasing and Supply (EL-IPS) at the University of Twente is one of the world's largest academic procurement research centres, uniting over 30 researchers from five departments across two faculties. Our expertise lies in:
• Public Procurement: Exploring and enhancing procurement processes in the public sector to promote transparency, sustainability, and value for money.
• Procurement of Innovation: Mapping the landscape and innovation ecosystems, building procurement capability for embedding and driving innovation.
• Public Health Procurement: Improving purchasing practices within healthcare systems to boost efficiency and patient outcomes.
• Procurement of Innovation: Collaboration with municipalities to advance innovation through strategic procurement.
Our past projects relevant to Topic 3: PROCEDIN (Building procurement capability for embedding and driving innovation and accelerating the growth of CE and Green Mobility innovation ecosystems), PRECIUS (Collaboration and synergies between public procurement professionals and distinct communities, PERISCOPE ( PSM skills towards innovative and sustainable solutions), HERCULES (identification of regional innovation needs and market operators in healthcare), PERSIST (identification of PSM skills and roles for a future and Industry 4.0)