At the time when European societies are facing dramatic changes and dealing with complex inter-linked global problems, leading to an unpredictable future with conflicting visions of better society greater attention must be given to the insights Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) could offer, to promote social innovative solutions addressing societal challenges.Insights coming from SSH disciplines/professionals are critical for better and informed practice, especially when talking about sustainable innovations/transformations, or when trying to understand social disruption processes on broader socio-economic environment. The effects of social disruption, brought by the technological innovation, has dramatically affected economy, culture of institutions and changed people’s lives. Being on the verge of 4th industrial revolution, bringing more disruption in our economy, institutions and lives, there is an urgent need for greater attention to be given to SSH-based research which will encourage moving towards sustainable innovations and brighter future.The SHOUT consortium aims to strengthen SSH students and professionals innovation capacity and transformational role of HEIs, SMEs and NGOs when dealing with complex problems presented in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and developing innovative sustainable solutions. To reach this objective, SHOUT alliance will deliver the following results: • three innovative educational programmes (educational materials and webinars) for SSH academics, research support staff, SSH students and SSH professionals.• a replicable research mission-based traineeship scheme and problem-focused learning approach.• a self-sustaining SSH research and innovation HUB for students and professionals.• improve visibility of SSH research and strengthen its impact on broader socio-economic environment.• strengthen collaboration among different sectors, improve networking channels bridging the gap between research and practice.

"<< Background >>The European Commission, through the Strategy ""Shaping Europe's digital future"", has identified the ""Public Procurement of Innovation (PPI)"" as the key tool to facilitate the diffusion of innovation and encourage industries to invest in research and development. PPI, which occurs when the public procurers use their purchasing power to act as an ""early adopter"" of solutions/services/technologies that are not yet available on a large commercial scale, is considered by the international community as an exceptional tool to bring innovation to the territories. Every year in Europe , more than 2,000 billion euros are spent through the public procurement, a signficant amount that corresponds to 14% of European GDP: it is clear that a wider use of PPI would speed up growth and investment in R&D, bringing innovation and jobs opportunities to the territories. At the moment, although there is a growing interest in this topic, PPI represents a methodology that is still not fully understood either by public buyers or businesses, and is spreading rather slowly and unevenly across European countries (Industrial and Corporate Change, Volume 29, Issue 6, December 2020). This is happening for the following reasons (OECD 2020):- IN THE CASE OF THE P.A.: low attitude of public procurers to adopt procedural and administrative innovations; lack of innovation policies especially at the local level; lack of specialized personnel; lack of interaction with SMEs and industries;- IN THE CASE OF COMPANIES: very often companies with high innovation potential (especially SMEs and innovative startups) do not have in their staff professionals specialized in the PPI domain and do not recognize in the public procurement sector, and more specifically in PPI, a real opportunity for the growth of their business and for the distribution of innovative solutions proposed.PPI GO puts in place actions and tools that, in addition to intervening effectively on the issues mentioned above, contribute to creating opportunities for job placement, professional specialization and new development perspectives for the territories.<< Objectives >>PPI GO, acting in a complementary way to- to the policies promoted by DG CONNECT on Public Procurement of Innovation (most recently the ""Benchmarking and measurement framework for innovation procurement in Europe - 2020""), - the Conclusions of the European Council on ""EU industrial policy strategy"" (2018) that have highligthed the crucial role of PPI as a strategic tool to facilitate the transition towards a more innovative, environmentally friendly and socially inclusive economy,aims to create a specialized professional, the PPI Manager, able to:- support PAs in the proper implementation of the Public Procurement of Innovation;- support SMEs and innovative startups throughout the process of participation in Public Procurement of Innovation;- encourage cooperation between public buyers and SMEs, focusing on promoting innovative solutions according to their needs;- improve the PA's knowledge of innovative SMEs and industries; - improve the perception of public procurement, by PAs and SMEs, as a useful tool for achieving general policy objectives;- shift the focus from the technical/administrative part of public procurement to the technological/innovative component and its contribution to public policies for the development of territories;- establish public/private partnerships and synergies, as well as relationships and connections with other actors active in the PPI sector;- ensure a better programming capacity in the PPI area also in the frame of the cohesion policy.<< Implementation >>The project activities are aimed at ensuring all possible support to future PPI Managers, the new specialists in public procurement for innovation.The partnership, in fact, will develop:1) an extremely targeted and innovative training curriculum, able to cover all operational and methodological aspects related to the PPI sector. The course, which will be ECVET compliant, will be addressed to professionals, consultants and mentors, with priority to those graduated in economics and management engineering, including recent graduates and people with such academic background looking for professional reconversion. The training course will be tested in all partner countries (through a pilot training action that will involve at least 75 participants) and will take place through online activities and more. The training, in fact, will include project works with companies and public procurers in order to make the experience extremely focused, practical, blended and highly innovative.2) The ""PPI Manager Tool Kit"", consisting of 3 extremely innovative and web-based tools, namely: the 'INNOVATION AND NEED ASSESSMENT TOOL (FOR AUDITING PAs)'; the 'PRODUCT/SERVICE EVALUATION TOOL (FOR ASSESSING SMEs)' and the 'INNOVATION OPPORTUNITY ASSESSMENT TOOL'. The tools will enable PPI Managers to explore the needs of PAs and the characteristics of products/services/technologies available on the market in a very simple way. The tools, moreover, will be supported by databases that will allow- to companies to verify the innovation needs of PAs; - PAs to verify innovative solutions in various sectors promoted by companies and startups.It is therefore an open system able to feed itself and grow over time, to create a multi-level community in which interact public procurers, innovative companies and especially PPI Managers, the real drivers of the Public Procurement of Innovation. The transferability potential is unlimited: that's why, in order to accelerate the processes of transfer and distribution of the tools, the support of CCSN will be used and targeted collaborations with European thematic networks in the field of public procurement will be activated.3) The PPI MOOC, which will make access to training and certification permanent and will allow all those interested to specialize in the PPI sector. The training contents will transform the users into PPI Managers able to put the acquired skills at the service of their company or professional activity.The project also includes 4 transnational meetings, 5 multiplier events to be attended by at least 200 people and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the main stakeholders that constitute the National Strategic Advisory Committees - CCSN, specialized networks that will actively support the partnership in all project activities.<< Results >>PPI GO:- Encourages the upgrade and dissemination of existing knowledge in the Public Procurement of Innovation domain through the provision of an innovative 'Training course for PPI Managers' and consistent with the ECVET paradigm;- Pilots and validates the training course in the framework of a pilot action in blended mode involving at least 75 participants in the partner countries (with priority to professionals, consultants, mentors with a degree in economics and management engineering, including recent graduates and people with such academic background looking for professional reconversion).- Develops and makes available to future PPI specialists the innovative 'PPI Digital Tool-Kit', a package of extremely innovative web-based working tools, which will represent an indispensable support for future PPI Managers;- Makes training lifelong through the activation of a MOOC that will transform the training modules into an inclusive, transparent and dynamic OER;- Transfers solid PPI knowledge, insights, experiences, methodologies, metrics, and tools to trainers, mentors, consultants, enterprises and PAs so that all these players can effectively contribute to the development of their local innovation ecosystems;PPI GO expects to reach more than 2000 people from different backgrounds: public procurers, decision makers, innovative SMEs and startups, VET providers, consultants, mentors, innovation and technology transfer agencies, undergraduates in economics and engineering management. In addition, the project aims to reach 10,000 people on social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. PPI Managers, thanks to its methodology and tools , will be able to transfer a new vision of development of the territories to decision makers and PA operators: just think, for example, about the potential of the tools of the 'PPI Manager Digital Tool-Kit' which will allow to acquire detailed and comparative information on innovative solutions available on the market (including those already adopted in other contexts and surveyed by other PPI Managers) to address the social, cultural, environmental and economic challenges of the territories. The PPI GO tools will trigger a virtuous mechanism, open and able to feed itself and grow over time, to create a multi-level community in which public procurers, innovative companies and especially PPI Managers will interact, i.e. the real connectors and drivers of the Public Procurement of Innovation."