Advantages of Innovation Impact Challenges for government agencies

You are not obliged to purchase the innovations developed, but buying them should be your intention.

How does an Innovation Impact Challenge benefit your organisation?

There are several advantages to procuring research and development via an Innovation Impact Challenge. For instance, you will be offered various solutions to your challenge or problem, have prototypes that have been tested and you will work with innovative economic operators (including start-ups and scale-ups). Other advantages include:

• Involving entrepreneurs pays off because entrepreneurs are creative, fast, flexible and very adept at turning knowledge into a specific product or service.
• It is in the entrepreneurs’ interest to ensure that what they develop leads to a commercial product that they can market.
• Government authorities can use Innovation Impact Challenges to respond to social issues, transitions and technological developments.
• Innovation Impact Challenges give government agencies the opportunity to come across innovative solutions from the market to address their own government challenges, with the aim of carrying out government tasks sustainably, more efficiently and more effectively.
• Innovation Impact Challenges foster a mindset that promotes professionalisation and the deployment of innovation-oriented purchasing and procurement policies, which in turn creates more room for experimentation.
• Innovation Impact Challenges offer opportunities to companies, including new companies, who have innovative ideas.

What is expected of your organisation?

The costs for setting up and running a project for an Innovation Impact Challenge are for your own account. In addition to financial investment, the Innovation Impact Challenge also requires man hours, mental capacity and commitment throughout the project (for at least 18 months, and 2,5 years at most).

Which steps do you have to take to enter an Innovation Impact Challenge?

The Innovation Impact Challenge consists of the following steps:

1. Formulating the challenge
2. Setting up the invitation to tender
3. Announcing the invitation to tender
4. Holding information meetings for interested economic operators
5. Registering the proposals received
6. The impartial committee’s assessment of the proposals
7. Awarding of the contract to entrepreneurs with the best tenders
8. Start of phase 1: The feasibility study
9. Start of phase 2: Developing the prototype
10. Final phase: Focusing on marketing of the innovations developed

You yourself determine the next stage after an Innovation Impact Challenge. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency can support you in this.

Help with advice and organisation

Contact the Netherlands Enterprise Agency’s Innovation Impact Challenge Implementation and Expertise Desk at innovationimpactchallenge@rvo.nl to discuss whether an Innovation Impact Challenge could help address your policy challenge. We give advice about Innovation Impact Challenges and can organise the entire Innovation Impact Challenge process for you. The Netherlands Enterprise Agency has years of experience in handling Innovation Impact Challenges and has the right knowledge and networks for a successful Innovation Impact Challenge submission. Our experience with Innovation Impact Challenges ensures that we carry out all legal and organisational aspects for you in a cost-effective way.

If you would like to know whether Innovation Impact Challenge suits your organisation, then complete the Quickscan (in Dutch) right now.

Guidelines and ‘Innovation Impact Challenge for government agencies’ starter form

The above information is taken from the Innovation Impact Challenge Guidelines for Government Agencies. The full version of the guidelines (in Dutch) is available at the bottom of this page.

The Netherlands Enterprise Agency has designed a starter form for Innovation Impact Challenge for government agencies. You can complete the starter form online (in Dutch). We will contact you as soon as possible.