Pre-commercial procurement and the marketing of innovation: a new innovation policy instrument or ‘old wine in new bottles’?

We analyse the peculiarities of pre-commercial procurement (PCP) within the EU innovation policy kit, interpreting it as a risk-shifting mechanism. While most studies assume the point of view of the public procurer, we take the suppliers’ one, with a focus on SMEs. We conclude that PCP, operating in the phase of the specification of technical requirements, has the peculiar role of favouring a better match between supply and demand as for innovative goods and can allow to exploit the competitive advantages that SMEs display in the early phases of the technological process, if interpreted as an innovation-leaking process.