suHCO (Systemic Sustainability Transition Solution for Health Care Organisations) is a European project funded under the Horizon Europe programme (Grant Agreement No. 101226802) and implemented through a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP) scheme. The project aims to support health and care organisations in their transition towards more sustainable and environmentally responsible models by fostering the development of innovative digital solutions. Through the PCP process, suHCO will procure research and development services for the creation of an AI-enabled digital platform capable of helping healthcare organisations assess their sustainability performance, identify improvement opportunities, plan and implement actions, monitor progress, and support evidence-based decision-making. The future solution is expected to integrate sustainability knowledge, regulatory requirements, standards, best practices and relevant data sources, providing users with practical guidance tailored to their organisational context. It should also support sustainable procurement processes, impact assessment, reporting activities and organisational change management. The project is driven by a Buyers Group composed of healthcare organisations from Spain, Italy and Wales. The solutions developed during the PCP will be progressively designed, prototyped and validated in real healthcare environments to ensure their relevance, usability and scalability. By bringing together healthcare providers, technology developers and sustainability experts, suHCO seeks to stimulate innovation and contribute to the sustainability objectives of European health systems.

Pre-commercial Procurement of an innovative Systemic Sustainability Transition Solution for Health Care Organisations (suHCO)

Procurement will take the form of pre-commercial procurement (PCP), where R&D service contracts will be awarded in parallel to different R&D providers in a phased approach. This will allow alternative, competing solutions to be compared. Each selected operator will receive a framework contract covering three R&D phases. The three phases are: Solution design, prototype development, original development and validation and testing of a limited volume of the first products or services. After each phase, interim evaluations are conducted to select the best of the competing solutions. The contractors with the best value for money will be offered a specific contract for the next phase. The selected operators will retain ownership of the intellectual property rights (IPRs) they generate during the PCP and will be able to use them to exploit the full market potential of the solutions developed. Testing is expected to take place in Catalonia (Spain), West Wales (UK), Treviso (Italy). This testing may also serve as a first customer test reference for the contractors. The selected suppliers will retain ownership of the intellectual property rights (IPRs) they generate during the PCP and will be able to use them to exploit the full market potential of the solutions developed, i.e. beyond the procurement. This procurement is funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 101226802- suHCO (https://suhco.eu/). The EU has awarded a grant for this procurement but is not participating as a contracting authority in the procurement.