December 3 (London) – 4 (Paris) – 5 (Milan) — and streaming online
In December 2025, George Washington University Law School (GW Law), with the kind support of Google, hosted a series of live (and live-streaming) symposia on procurement-for-innovation in London, Paris and Milan.
Sessions
Members of the legal and technology communities participated in each session. The sessions were in-person and streamed on Google Meet.
Wednesday, December 3, London – Defense and security
Location/Topic: NATO/DIANA offices, Translation & Innovation Hub (I-Hub), 84 Wood Lane, London W12 0BZ (campus map) and online. To discuss procurement for innovation in defense and security.
Christopher Yukins (GW Law) (in person) & Edward du Boulay (Google) (online): Symposium series overview and discussion of transatlantic developments in procurement-for-innovation.
Tom McSorley – General Counsel – NATO/DIANA (in person) – strategic approach to procurement-for innovation – NATO/DIANA model for procurement-for-innovation.
Alexandra Rogers, Chief Operating Officer, jHub Catalyst (MOD profile) (in person) & Ryan Benitez, Chief Commercial Officer, NATO DIANA (in person): Advancing dual-use procurement.
Luke Butler – Professor of Public Procurement Law & Regulation, University of Nottingham (in person). Institutional developments in the United Kingdom’s approach to innovation following the launch of the UK’s defence industrial strategy (including NATO DIANA).
Thursday, December 4, Paris – Global developments
Location/Topic: Google offices, 50 Rue d’Amsterdam 75, 75009 Paris, and online. To discuss global developments.
Steven Van Garsse, Professor/Vice Dean/ Head of Research Unit in Administrative Law & Public Administration, University of Hasselt (in person) – European Investment Bank (EIB) innovative public-private partnerships for security contracts (in person)
András Hlács, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (in person)
Jessica Tillipman – GW Law (online) – Associate Dean, Government Procurement Law, GW Law School (online) – Introduction to AI as procurement-for-innovation
Hai Anh Tran – GW Law School (SJD Candidate) (online) and Line Rakner (GW Law School (LLM Candidate) (online) – Why multilateral negotiations facilitate procurement for innovation
Friday, December 5, Milan – European developments
Location/Topic: Google offices, Via Federico Confalonieri 4, 20124, Milano, and online. To focus on EU developments.
Gabriella Racca – Full Professor of Administrative Law, University of Torino (Italy) (in person)
Stephan Corvers, Ana Lucia Jaramillo Villacís -and Azra Atalan (appearing) — Corvers Procurement Services (online) — European Commission initiative to reduce legal barriers to innovation procurement in the EU (online) (background on experts’ group; final report).
Sarah Schoenmaekers, Maastricht University & Hasselt University (online) — State Aid and procurement-for-innovation.
Jessica Tillipman – GW Law School – New Corruption Risks in Artificial Intelligence (online)
Line Rakner (GW Law School (LLM Candidate) and Hai Anh Tran (GW Law School (SJD Candidate)) (online) – Comparative approaches to multilateral negotiations in the European Union and U.S. procurement systems
Discussant: Arash Heidarian, Google (online).
Series moderator: Christopher Yukins, Lynn David Research Professor in Government Procurement Law, GW Law School.
Discussant: Edward du Boulay, Head of Legal at Google Cloud (EMEA Public Sector)
Discussant: Arash Heidarian, Legal Director, Google Public Sector
Research Resources
Corvers, Overcoming Legal Barriers for the Uptake of Innovation Procurement in the EU: Bringing down legal barriers for innovation procurement – Research and innovation (Nov. 2025) (final report of the EC Expert Group on innovation procurement)
European Commission, Publication of the Evaluation of the Public Procurement Directives (October 2025) (includes detailed analysis of successes and failures in innovation-for-procurement under the 2014 directives)
European Commission, Webinar: Innovation Procurement Uptake: Overcoming Barriers in the Legal Framework That Hamper Wider Implementation of Innovation Procurement (20 Feb. 2025) (Webinar recording)
European Commission, Commission seeks feedback on the future European Innovation Act (July 2025)
European Commission, European Assistance for Innovation Procurement (EAFIP)
European Commission, EU policy initiatives on Innovation Procurement
European Commission, 28th regime – a single harmonized set of rules for innovative companies throughout the EU. This initiative will respond to calls from the business community and provide companies, especially innovative ones, with a single set of rules to invest more easily and operate in the Single Market. As a main element, it will set out a new corporate legal framework covering a wide range of key issues for companies, building on online procedures and digital tools in EU company law. This framework will be complemented by measures in other areas to help innovative companies develop in the EU.
European Commission, Webinar: Techniques to Foster Innovation Procurement (17 Sept. 2025) (Webinar recording)
European Council, Defence industry: Council agrees position on simplification package to boost Europe’s defence industry and readiness (Nov. 2025)
European Investment Bank, Public-Private Partnerships in Security and Defence (Apr. 2025)
Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), Public procurement for public sector innovation: Facilitating innovators’ access to innovation procurement (Dec. 2024)
Other useful OECD publications on procurement-for-innovation:
Governing with Artificial Intelligence
Implementing the OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement in OECD and Partner Countries
Thomas McSorley, Maciej Macenowicz, Matthew Maddison & Christopher Yukins, Allies Bridging The Valley Of Death: How NATO’s Defence Innovation Accelerator For The North Atlantic Will Help Maintain NATO’s Technological Edge, 67 Government Contractor ¶ 1 (Thomson Reuters, Jan. 8, 2025)