Public procurement and transformative solutions: Workshop in Stockholm

The workshop about the potential role for public procurement to support transformative solutions was very inspiring and constructive with concrete ideas for ways forward.

Download PDF for agenda here and read below for the background.

Background
A number of trends are converging, e.g. rapid economic growth in many emerging economies, geopolitical shifts, demographic changes, ecosystem decline, unsustainable use of many natural resources – including oil - and increasing CO2 emissions. In order to move society in the direction of a sustainable low-carbon development path, there is a need for more than incremental improvements in existing production and consumption systems – not least in the case of investments, which are meant to last for many decades, if not centuries (such as buildings, energy-intensive manufacturing facilities and transport/communication infrastructure). Thus transformative solutions, that will allow services to be provided in fundamentally new ways, are urgently needed now. The following examples illustrate the nature of the changes that will be required:

• To improve fuel efficiency when commuting represents an incremental improvement – to help change working habits, e.g. through teleworking, represents a transformative shift.
• To make newspaper production more resource-efficient represents an incremental improvement – to massively expand e-paper subscriptions is a transformative solution.
• To improve efficiency in fossil-based power production represents an incremental step – to develop buildings that are “net producers” of renewable energy is a transformative solution.
• To enhance efficiency in the use of e-journals in hospitals represents an incremental improvement – to offer e-health solutions that promote more healthy lifestyles and provide remote connection to medical services is a transformative solution.
• To improve recycling of materials represents an incremental step – to develop systems for closed loops of materials in the techno-sphere is a transformative solution.

The changes needed are significant. A number of different measures are required to ensure an accelerated uptake of transformative solutions.

International agreements and EU policy declarations have already identified Public Procurement as an important tool to help promote resource efficiency and low-carbon solutions. In so doing, the hope is that Public Procurement will both improve competitiveness and help meet the EU 2020 targets.

A number of initiatives are underway within the EU Commission and some of the Member States to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Public Procurement. There is, however, no established framework for the specific promotion of transformative solutions in the context of resource efficiency and low-carbon technology. Such a framework is urgently needed as several studies indicate that Public Procurement rules and practices of today often are seen as barriers to innovative solutions, instead of being at least neutral and hopefully also supportive.

The Committee of Inquiry on Public Procurement is mandated by the Swedish Government to undertake a thorough review of the Public Procurement rules and practices. The review shall be completed before the end of June, 2012. The review is undertaken in the context of a parallel review of EU legislation. Green Public Procurement is one of several key areas in the review.

The Committee is eager to explore new and innovative ways to use Public Procurement in the promotion of sustainable solutions, not least within the area of infrastructure development. To assist the Committee in these endeavours, Mr Dennis Pamlin has been asked to prepare a report on the role of Public Procurement in the promotion of transformative solutions for a low-carbon economy. The workshop on October 3rd is organised as an integral part of Mr Pamlin’s assignment.

Public procurement and transformative solutions: Workshop in Stockholm

The workshop about the potential role for public procurement to support transformative solutions was very inspiring and constructive with concrete ideas for ways forward.

Download PDF for agenda here and read below for the background.

Background
A number of trends are converging, e.g. rapid economic growth in many emerging economies, geopolitical shifts, demographic changes, ecosystem decline, unsustainable use of many natural resources – including oil - and increasing CO2 emissions. In order to move society in the direction of a sustainable low-carbon development path, there is a need for more than incremental improvements in existing production and consumption systems – not least in the case of investments, which are meant to last for many decades, if not centuries (such as buildings, energy-intensive manufacturing facilities and transport/communication infrastructure). Thus transformative solutions, that will allow services to be provided in fundamentally new ways, are urgently needed now. The following examples illustrate the nature of the changes that will be required:

• To improve fuel efficiency when commuting represents an incremental improvement – to help change working habits, e.g. through teleworking, represents a transformative shift.
• To make newspaper production more resource-efficient represents an incremental improvement – to massively expand e-paper subscriptions is a transformative solution.
• To improve efficiency in fossil-based power production represents an incremental step – to develop buildings that are “net producers” of renewable energy is a transformative solution.
• To enhance efficiency in the use of e-journals in hospitals represents an incremental improvement – to offer e-health solutions that promote more healthy lifestyles and provide remote connection to medical services is a transformative solution.
• To improve recycling of materials represents an incremental step – to develop systems for closed loops of materials in the techno-sphere is a transformative solution.

The changes needed are significant. A number of different measures are required to ensure an accelerated uptake of transformative solutions.

International agreements and EU policy declarations have already identified Public Procurement as an important tool to help promote resource efficiency and low-carbon solutions. In so doing, the hope is that Public Procurement will both improve competitiveness and help meet the EU 2020 targets.

A number of initiatives are underway within the EU Commission and some of the Member States to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Public Procurement. There is, however, no established framework for the specific promotion of transformative solutions in the context of resource efficiency and low-carbon technology. Such a framework is urgently needed as several studies indicate that Public Procurement rules and practices of today often are seen as barriers to innovative solutions, instead of being at least neutral and hopefully also supportive.

The Committee of Inquiry on Public Procurement is mandated by the Swedish Government to undertake a thorough review of the Public Procurement rules and practices. The review shall be completed before the end of June, 2012. The review is undertaken in the context of a parallel review of EU legislation. Green Public Procurement is one of several key areas in the review.

The Committee is eager to explore new and innovative ways to use Public Procurement in the promotion of sustainable solutions, not least within the area of infrastructure development. To assist the Committee in these endeavours, Mr Dennis Pamlin has been asked to prepare a report on the role of Public Procurement in the promotion of transformative solutions for a low-carbon economy. The workshop on October 3rd is organised as an integral part of Mr Pamlin’s assignment.

The Lights in the Tunnel by Martin Ford

I read Martin’s book a few months ago and did not really know what to say about it. In one way it is the kind of airplane literature that I keep complaining about as it has one idea and is just discussing that from different angles though the book… But this idea is really fundamental and he write’s in such a relaxed, but passionate, way that it is like having a really inspiring conversation on a long-haul flight (or from a climate/innovation perspective preferable a high-speed train trip).

I should start by saying that there are a number of things I disagree with, and I find it a little sad that he address current economist in the way he does as I think it does not add to the book and will not convince any of the old school economists. But maybe it was worth a try… But it is not important (as old school economists are not very important more than the fact that they delay action in important areas).

The theme of the book is automation. Not simple automation, but transformative and it asks the question what happens when better intelligence and better machines are merged. What jobs are needed and what jobs are not? 

In a time where policy makers, media, business and NGOs all agree that anything should be done to create almost any jobs Martin takes a step back and ask, where are we heading with the current development?

The conclusion is simple, and not surprising when you look around at the real world development: It is very likely that there will be a lot less available jobs than we usually assume.  Especially when intelligence (different forms as AI) is improving at an accelerated phase challenge many of the white color jobs that no one is discussing as disappearing (doctors, lawyers, investors, etc). People that today spend a lot of time with things that are not very creative (an area that will be hard to substitute).

Obviously not all of the work will disappear but if 50% can be taken over that is 50% lost jobs (and in most cases also demand for other skills). In the same way as one person can use a machine to make as many knifes that 100ds of people could do before the industrial revolution it is time to think about the “knowledge sector”… 

If we moved from less labor intensive work to more thought intensive work, what is the next step… I would hope creative and ethic lives… So two shifts are needed, first that we don’t focus on simple “thinking” as machines will do the simple things for us, and second that we need to look beyond “jobs” and ask what kind of lives we want people to be able to have in society

I’m particularly interested to see how the increased need to create jobs “at home” in EU and the US will accelerate the transformative trend with jobs lost in existing sectors. Both EU and the US now agree that they should have a manufacturing base as an important part of the economy, but neither seems to understand that the option they have to be competitive is to accelerate the trends Martin describes. 

There are more interesting discussion in this book I hope anyone talking about “job creation” and “green tax reforms” will read this, as well as anyone with a general interest in the future. 

I proudly bough the e-book on Amazon as I think this kind of approach should be supported and that the big distribution channels must allow the multiple distribution approach by Martin. Why, because he is making the book available for free, or at the cost you are willing to pay, on his page.

So to sum up. It is a book looking in a direction where few dare to look and doing so without being sensationalistic. So if you are interesting in how the society could evolve before the laggards start realizing that their models are out dated I think you should pick up, pay for if you can afford it, and most important read “The lights in the end of the tunnel”.

The Lights in the Tunnel by Martin Ford

I read Martin’s book a few months ago and did not really know what to say about it. In one way it is the kind of airplane literature that I keep complaining about, as it has one idea and is just discussing that from different angles though the book (far longer than necessary)…

But the idea in this book, the transformation is really fundamental and he writes in such a relaxed, but passionate, way that it is like having a really inspiring conversation on a long-haul flight (or from a climate/innovation perspective preferable, a high-speed train trip).

I should start by saying that there are a number of things I disagree with, and I find it a little sad that he address current economists in the way he does, as I think it does not add to the book and will not convince any of the old school economists. But maybe it was worth a try… But it is not important (as old school economists are not very important in setting the agenda for the coming transformation, more than the fact that they delay action in important areas).

The theme of the book is automation. Not simple automation, but transformative automation and it asks the question what happens when better intelligence and better machines are merged. What jobs are needed and what jobs are not?

In a time where policy makers, media, business and NGOs all agree that anything should be done to create almost any jobs Martin takes a step back and ask, where are we heading with the current development?

The conclusion is simple, and not surprising when you look around at the real world development: It is very likely that there will be a lot less available jobs than we usually assume. Especially when intelligence (different forms of AI's) is improving at an accelerated phase challenging many of the white color jobs that no one is discussing as disappearing (doctors, lawyers, investors, etc). People that today spend a lot of time with things that are not very creative.

Obviously not all work will disappear but if 50% can be taken over that is 50% lost jobs (and in most cases also demand for other skills). In the same way as one person can use a machine to make as many knifes that 100's of people could do before the industrial revolution, it is time to re-think the “knowledge sector”…

If we moved from labor intensive work to more thought intensive work with the help of mechanical machines during the industrial revolution, what is the next step…?

I would hope creative and ethic lives… So two shifts are needed, first that we don’t focus on simple “thinking”/doing" as machines will do the simple things for us, and second that we need to look beyond “jobs”and ask what kind of lives we want people to be able to have in society.

I’m particularly interested to see how the increased need to create "domestic" jobs  in EU and the US will accelerate the transformative trend with jobs lost in existing sectors. Both EU and the US now agree that they should have a manufacturing base as an important part of the economy, but neither seems to understand that the option they have to be competitive is to accelerate the trends Martin describes.

There are interesting discussion in this book I hope anyone talking about “job creation” and “green tax reforms” will read, as well as anyone with a general interest in the future.

I bough the e-book on Amazon as I think this kind of approach should be supported and that the big distribution channels must allow the multiple distribution approach by Martin. Why, because he is making the book available for free, or at the cost you are willing to pay, on his page.

So to sum up. It is a book looking in a direction where few dare to look and doing so without being sensationalistic. So if you are interested in how the society could evolve before the laggards start realizing that their models are out dated I think you should pick up, pay for if you can afford it, and most important, read “The lights in the end of the tunnel”.

The Lights in the Tunnel by Martin Ford

I read Martin’s book a few months ago and did not really know what to say about it. In one way it is the kind of airplane literature that I keep complaining about as it has one idea and is just discussing that from different angles though the book… But this idea is really fundamental and he write’s in such a relaxed, but passionate, way that it is like having a really inspiring conversation on a long-haul flight (or from a climate/innovation perspective preferable a high-speed train trip).

I should start by saying that there are a number of things I disagree with, and I find it a little sad that he address current economist in the way he does as I think it does not add to the book and will not convince any of the old school economists. But maybe it was worth a try… But it is not important (as old school economists are not very important more than the fact that they delay action in important areas).

The theme of the book is automation. Not simple automation, but transformative and it asks the question what happens when better intelligence and better machines are merged. What jobs are needed and what jobs are not?

In a time where policy makers, media, business and NGOs all agree that anything should be done to create almost any jobs Martin takes a step back and ask, where are we heading with the current development?

The conclusion is simple, and not surprising when you look around at the real world development: It is very likely that there will be a lot less available jobs than we usually assume.  Especially when intelligence (different forms as AI) is improving at an accelerated phase challenge many of the white color jobs that no one is discussing as disappearing (doctors, lawyers, investors, etc). People that today spend a lot of time with things that are not very creative (an area that will be hard to substitute).

Obviously not all of the work will disappear but if 50% can be taken over that is 50% lost jobs (and in most cases also demand for other skills). In the same way as one person can use a machine to make as many knifes that 100ds of people could do before the industrial revolution it is time to think about the “knowledge sector”…

If we moved from less labor intensive work to more thought intensive work, what is the next step… I would hope creative and ethic lives… So two shifts are needed, first that we don’t focus on simple “thinking” as machines will do the simple things for us, and second that we need to look beyond “jobs” and ask what kind of lives we want people to be able to have in society

I’m particularly interested to see how the increased need to create jobs “at home” in EU and the US will accelerate the transformative trend with jobs lost in existing sectors. Both EU and the US now agree that they should have a manufacturing base as an important part of the economy, but neither seems to understand that the option they have to be competitive is to accelerate the trends Martin describes.

There are more interesting discussion in this book I hope anyone talking about “job creation” and “green tax reforms” will read this, as well as anyone with a general interest in the future.

I proudly bough the e-book on Amazon as I think this kind of approach should be supported and that the big distribution channels must allow the multiple distribution approach by Martin. Why, because he is making the book available for free, or at the cost you are willing to pay, on his page.

So to sum up. It is a book looking in a direction where few dare to look and doing so without being sensationalistic. So if you are interesting in how the society could evolve before the laggards start realizing that their models are out dated I think you should pick up, pay for if you can afford it, and most important read “The lights in the end of the tunnel”.