The Innovation Procurement Empowerment Centre (IPEC), a project of the Connected Places Catapult focusing on introducing innovative solutions through procurement in the public sector, is advancing open innovation and fresh thinking. To boost this initiative, IPEC has teamed up with the “Startup Ecosystem Stars (SES)” to present a special prize at the 2024 Awards scheduled for December 6th in Paris, co-organised by the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) and the global open innovation platform Mind the Bridge, in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission, and with support from Microsoft.