Public Procurement Service, New Designation of Innovative Products and Extension of Expiry Period for Existing Products

The Public Procurement Service (PPS) announced on the 24th that it has recently designated 40 new innovative products and decided to extend the designation period by one year for 28 products whose innovation designation period has expired.

Innovative products are prototypes at the pre-commercialization stage, designated so that the public sector becomes the first purchaser to drive technological advancement for companies and provide high-quality public services to institutions.

The newly designated innovative products include many items closely related to citizens' lives, such as fire suppression equipment dedicated to electric vehicle fires, smart traffic safety alert systems, outdoor fire hydrant parking enforcement systems, gastrointestinal endoscopy medical devices, flood prevention rainwater inlet systems, upper limb function recovery rehabilitation robots, two-way smart door locks, and converged electric vehicle charging devices.

Once designated as innovative products, they can receive support for market access through exclusive contracts for up to six years, implementation of purchase targets, and purchase exemptions.

Additionally, following unit price contracts and pilot purchases, they can receive assistance for overseas demonstrations, building a foundation to export their products.

Last month, the PPS revised the operational regulations for purchasing innovative products through inter-agency collaboration to expand excellent technological innovative products, strategically operate pilot purchases, establish an export base through overseas demonstrations, fully introduce unit price contracts, and simplify additional specification procedures.

Jeon Tae-won, Director of New Growth Procurement Planning at the PPS, stated, “Discovering innovative products can become a sustainable and solid foundation for the domestic economy,” adding, “The PPS will continue to focus on institutional improvements and regulatory relaxation to discover innovative products that the public can feel and to promote technological development of innovative companies.”