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The most prominent figures in the procurement community met on the 17-18 of June 2024 to participate in the Global Revolution 2024 Conference, hosted by the Public Procurement Research Group at the School of Law of the University of Nottingham. The conference took place at the East Midlands Conference Centre.  It was organised by Professor Annamaria La Chimia and Dr Peter Trepte.  This was another successful in-person conference run by the PPRG, following the success of the previous year's event. It attracted over 210 participants and hosted 34 workshop sessions with over 120 speakers.

The programme was innovative, covering issues of interest to the Global South and the Global North, including issues such as sustainability, innovation, AI and digitalization as well as procurement reforms in the UK and all over the world. Speakers and participants came from over 30 countries and from different procurement fields and backgrounds - including academics, procurement experts, lawyers, civil servants, and officials from all major international and national procurement authorities and organisations.  This included the World Bank, the OECD, the WTO, the Open Contracting Partnership, the Italian Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) the Albanian Public Procurement Agency, the Azeri Public Procurement Agency, the EU Court of Auditors, the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and many more. Countries represented included the UK, USA, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Denmark, France, Grece, Hungary, India, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, and many others.

The conference opened on day one with the welcome address by our PPRG Director, Professor Annamaria La Chimia and continued with the keynote session including speakers such as Jean-Jacques Verdeaux (World Bank), Reto Malacrida (WTO), Erika Bozzay (OECD), Professor Leigh Hancher (Tilburg University), and Jessica Tillipman (George Washington University).

Eight streams of workshops followed, covering issues of procurement in the UK and the EU, collaboration in procurement, procurement and sustainability, current issues in the international arena, artificial intelligence (AI) in procurement, digitalization and cross-border procurement, defence procurement, and rule of law challenges in procurement.

On day two, we were delighted to host Ewan West KC (Monckton Chambers), Professor Sue Arrowsmith KC (Hons) (Professor Emerita University of Nottingham), Professor Gustavo Piga (University of Tor Vergata), Professor Elisabetta Manunza (University of Utrecht), and Professor Geo Quinot (Stellenbosch University) who presented and discussed topical issues in procurement.

The conference continued with five streams of workshops discussing procurement in the UK and the EU, procurement in practice, procurement and sustainability, AI data and procurement, and digitalization in procurement.The conference provided a comprehensive and inclusive platform for discussing the latest developments and challenges in the field of public procurement, making it a significant event for professionals and academics alike.

We would like to thank all speakers and delegates for making the event such a great success. 

Conference Directors