Innovation Marketplace

The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade (DBIST) and the Government Commercial Agency (GCA) are working together to establish an Innovation Marketplace, providing a compliant route for public sector buyers to identify and procure innovative products, services and solutions that address operational, service delivery and policy challenges. This requirement supports wider government work to improve how innovation is identified, tested and scaled, while reducing barriers for innovative suppliers, including SMEs, start-ups and scale-ups, to access public sector opportunities.

The scope is expected to include establishing and operating a Dynamic Market for innovation, enabling eligible suppliers to apply to join throughout the life of the arrangement. The Innovation Marketplace may cover a broad range of innovative technologies, products, services and solutions that support public sector transformation, improved outcomes, efficiency, and economic growth.

The Innovation Marketplace is intended to be used by central government departments, arm’s length bodies and other eligible public sector organisations. It is expected to support procurement following pre-market engagement, challenge definition, pilots, proofs of concept or other evidence-building activity.

The arrangement is expected to complement the Innovation Hub (Commercial Innovation Hub - Find a Tender) by providing a transparent, fair and compliant commercial route for buyers to procure relevant innovative solutions. Our ambition is to make the government a more strategic buyer of innovation.

The result is a more connected innovation ecosystem where innovative suppliers can scale more quickly, government can access better solutions faster, and public money works harder to support both public service transformation and economic growth. When contacting GCA regarding this agreement, please ensure that you reference the agreement details in all correspondence.