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This specialist in strategic procurement thinking has escaped us for years, but now we are delighted to be able to introduce him to you. James is a great narrator of even bigger stories, and he likes to look "beyond the wall" of companies to customers, suppliers, contractors and the "intelligent extended value chain" that can drive their strategic decisions. At eBF he and Tomáš Veit will appear together in the grand finale on the ASAHI Stage discussing the New DNA of Procurement, or how the role of procurement is changing, what added value it can bring, and how the approach and attitude to procurement is changing over time.

After two days of presentations and discussions about bidding and procurement, it was nice to close the programme with a meeting with celebrities at Friday’s Caffè Lungo. Sharing their stories were the climber Leopold "Polda" Sulovský, ice hockey coach Vladimír Vůjtek, psychologist Bohdana Fialová, architect Eva Špačková and Ostrava patriot Vladimír Šmehlík. Sharing their stories of a life of freedom and life in the army respectively were the key eBF players Karel Otýs and Piotr Krompiewski. There were talks about how teams work and about choosing the right people for them. There were talks about decision-making in crisis situations, but also about the beauty of Ostrava. It was a very enjoyable coffee morning, and another good reason to come back to eBF next year. So see you then!

The eBF Procurement Festival is a rich source of experience and inspiring messages. For example, Mr Martin Zelinka was one of the speakers who made a great impression on the audience, pointing out that in times of turbulent changes we must always be prepared, even if we don’t know exactly what for. Not only for cementing, but also for boosting the position of procurement, there are key factors such as building relationships, critical thinking and self-education. "It is up to us to face the challenges. It is important to recognise both your suppliers and your customers and work hard for each other," he said at the conclusion of his emotional talk.

When looking back at eBF, a number of comments stand out. Many participants were very happy to have been involved in debates on some stages which sometimes became philosophical or "freestyle". A prominent example concerned Mr Jaroslav Lexa and Mr Jan Zahálka, two lawyers who were very open about whether people in public procurement must at all times stick to the letter of the law or sometimes use common sense. It turns out that in some cases they really can do the latter, BUT it is good to be able to defend it.

eBF is the largest festival of the digitalisation of both public and corporate procurement in Europe thanks to regular contributions by experts from many international companies and institutions. In the section devoted to public procurement space was given to current concerns such as EU funds and obligatory digitalisation, on which one of the speakers was Mr Fernando Batista of IMPIC, bringing inspiration from Portugal, where they have had all public sector data in one place and publicly accessible since 2009.

One of the most frequently used terms in the corporate procurement programme was the acronym VUCA, originally introduced by the US Army after the end of the Cold War. It indicates a world of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. It seems that even procurement finds itself in such a place now. Jan Vašek spoke very knowledgeably on the main stage about how to adapt to these new conditions.

Part of the Wednesday’s FSA gala evening, organized by APUeN with the support of EUPLAT, was the conferring of several special prizes. Honourable awards for achievement in the digitalisation of procurement were given to Mr Miroslav Hlivák from the Slovak Public Procurement Office and to corporate procurement lecturer Mr Karel Otýs. The Grand Prix was presented by the eBF organizers to Mr Tomáš Veit from Asahi in appreciation of his good work. Congratulations!

The Fair Sourcing Awards for procurement excellence were awarded at Wednesday evening’s gala event to innovative and inspirational users of eSolutions. Maria Biñas, the Chair of the jury, confirmed that for this year’s 8th edition the bar has been set very high. "I see this year as a turning point. We can see that the potential of people participating in the competition is immense," he said, adding that the creativity of particular solutions is increasingly important.

The Start category was won by the municipality of Žiar nad Hronom, second place went to the Banská Bystrica Region and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic was third. In the Trend category, the Liberec Region came first, followed by the City of Ostrava and third was Masaryk University in Brno. The winner of the Master award was Fernando Batista of the Portuguese Institute IMPIC, second was Ondrej Kuruc from the Slovakian Ministry of Health and third Jana Hybšová of the General University Hospital in Prague.

On the first day, many eBF participants headed for the stages hosting the traditionally acclaimed Hyde Park and Practical Arena events. The curators looking after their content were Messrs Mário Biňas and Jan Vašek, who created a blend of topics that are "happening" in corporate procurement. Discussions on category management, eCatalogues and procurement in times of rising prices, along with case studies on the evaluation of bids, were all greatly welcomed. It all culminated in an extended afternoon debate about the implementation of ideas and the meaningful use of eSolutions.

Under the guidance of one of the eBF curators, Mr. Karel Otýs, there was another novelty. This was the Sixth Stage in the Puppet Theatre, where you could listen to the stories of buyers from international corporations as well as Czech and Slovak companies. They talked openly about how to make savings happen in line with the management's expectations and how to negotiate with suppliers at a time of rising prices, amongst many other topics. The new programme format worked great. It turned out that the greater the authenticity of the story, the more people identify with it.