I. Launching the Early Stage Researchers Webinar Series

The SAPIENS’ Webinar series is intended to disseminate the research results to the general public, highlighting their societal benefits and communicating the same results to policymakers and sustainable public procurement (SPP) stakeholders to inform their international, EU and national activities.

The Webinars will contribute to the achievement of two main goals: (i) explain the SAPIENS research and its importance to the everyday life of the general public; (ii) create an informed public attitude on PP (in particular of citizens who use goods and services provided by the public sector; public sector and suppliers’ employees).

Each SAPIENS research topic will be presented through a recorded webinar and made available on e-learning platforms such as Zenodo and the SAPIENS website to ensure maximum accessibility to research results. 

II. Webinar 1: ‘Innovation and Sustainability in Transition’

The SAPIENS Network’s Scientific Webinar Series kicked off on the 23rd November with the webinar ”Innovation and Sustainability in Transition”, organised by our ESR 2 Valentina Bianchini and ESR 3 Aura Iurascu.  The event has been co-hosted with the Jean Monnet Modules at the University of Rome Tor Vergata and has seen the participation of over 60 students, online and in person. The webinar intended to bridge the gap between the Law and Management research fields, offering insights into the circular economy and sustainable supply chains. 

The event was moderated by Prof. BIANCAMARIA RAGANELLI (University of Rome Tor Vergata) and led by SAPIENS lead researcher, Prof. Andrea APPOLLONI, and explored how public procurement acts as a catalyst for sustainable transitions and, in particular, in fostering sustainable economies and societies.

Presentations highlights:

ESR 3, Aura Iurascu: Unveiling the role of EU public procurement law in promoting a circular economy, with a focus on its implementation, impact measurement, and integration into public tenders.

Aura’s presentation was divided into two main blocks; in the first part, she focused on exploring the notion of circular economy from a legal perspective, its background and development and its relevance in the transition towards a sustainable and climate-neutral continent in Europe. By analysing how the circular economy is monitored, the presentation bridged a gap with public procurement’s role in boosting circular activities and businesses. Finally, the presentation looked into the practical steps that public authorities can engage with to ensure that their procurement aligns with the circular economy transition. To wrap up, Aura shared a best practice case of a circular procurement pilot project and insisted on the relevance of public procurement as leverage for the circular economy.

ESR 2, Valentina Bianchini: Investigating the influence of public procurement on global supply chain sustainability, highlighting the interplay between procurement policies and sustainable supply chain management (SSCM).
Valentina started her presentation showcasing the sustainability issues in the global supply chains. She highlighted the main drivers to build sustainable supply chains and who are the firms that are more likely to effectively introduce sustainability in their supply chains. Subsequently she explained what is the role of public procurement in making global supply chains more sustainable and how it can be efficiently used for this purpose. Finally, Valentina emphasised how to embed sustainability all along the public procurement process to affect sustainable global supply chains and she concluded with three main takeaways for using public procurement as a leverage for SSCM.

Target audience:

This webinar is ideal for students and newcomers to procurement, circular economy, and supply chains, offering a comprehensive view from both legal and managerial perspectives.

Watch the full webinar below.