From Procurement to Piloting: INGOs Project Takes Bold Step During AidEx 2025

Taking place in Geneva, October 2025. As the global humanitarian landscape grows more complex, a quiet revolution is gaining traction—and it starts not with a contract, but with a challenge. At this year’s prior AidEx 2025 expo in Geneva, the INGOs project is bringing under discussion this bold shift from traditional procurement practices to pilot-driven innovation, calling on UN agencies, SMEs, and NGOs to rethink how solutions are introduced into the field.

In a packed pre-event seminar titled “From Procurement to Piloting – A Smarter Path to Innovation and Impact,” speakers from the UN, startups, and INGOs made a strong case for reimagining how humanitarian interventions begin. The critique was clear: rigid procurement models, while effective for standardized goods like food or medicine, often stall when faced with emerging or localized challenges. Too often, innovative ideas are lost in red tape before ever reaching the field.

Instead, the seminar offered a compelling alternative—challenge-based piloting. By inviting solutions through open calls and small-scale tests, agencies can foster co-creation, reduce risk, and identify what truly works before scaling. Case studies showed how pilots—whether using AI to optimize aid delivery or testing low-tech health tools in crisis zones—can accelerate impact and reduce duplication. Roundtable discussions brought together UN representatives and SMEs to identify shared problems and begin shaping collaborative paths forward.

The message was clear: innovation needs room to breathe, and piloting gives it that space.

As the main AidEx event happening on following days, the INGOs project invites attendees to join the movement. Let’s move from procedure to possibility, and build a humanitarian response system that learns faster, scales smarter, and collaborates better. Join us in the seminar—and start not with procurement, but with purpose.

Check the program and see the seminar agende taking place in Geneva 21st October 2025

The seminar is organized as part of Export to International NGOs -project, which is funded by Interreg Central Baltic programme.