Public organisations increasingly procure digital solutions, including cloud services, software platforms, data systems, AI tools, and digital infrastructure. Such solutions can improve service quality, efficiency, transparency, and innovation in the public sector. However, they also introduce cybersecurity risks related to data protection, system vulnerabilities, supplier access, operational continuity, and dependence on external technology providers.

Cybersecurity requirements are therefore becoming an important part of tender design and contract management in public procurement. Public buyers must ensure that digital solutions are secure and compliant with relevant regulations and standards. At the same time, cybersecurity requirements that are too strict, vague, or poorly designed may reduce competition, discourage innovative suppliers, increase costs, or exclude smaller firms with valuable solutions. This creates an important procurement challenge: how can public buyers control cybersecurity risks while still encouraging innovation in digital public services?

A master’s thesis on this topic may explore how cybersecurity considerations are incorporated into the public procurement of digital solutions, and how these requirements influence innovation, supplier participation, and procurement outcomes.

NB: This topic is supported by Anskaffelsesakademiet – the Norwegian Academy of Public Procurement. Students who choose this topic may receive up to NOK 10,000 to support their research. In addition, students who receive an A or B on their final thesis assessment may be selected to participate in the national competition for the best master’s thesis in public procurement in Norway. The competition includes students from universities and university colleges across the country, and the winning thesis receives NOK 30,000. As inspiration, the award has been offered four times so far, and students from Molde University College have won it twice.

As governments increasingly integrate digital tools into procurement processes, DPPs—structured datasets that provide standardized, lifecycle-based information about products—are gaining policy traction, particularly within the EU’s circular economy framework and the proposed Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR). Their relevance lies in enabling contracting authorities to access more reliable and comparable information on environmental performance, material composition, and supply chain characteristics, which can strengthen green public procurement practices and address persistent information asymmetries between buyers and suppliers. At the same time, digital transparency tools such as DPPs may incentivize firms to innovate by aligning product design and production processes with new data disclosure and sustainability requirements. However, their implementation raises challenges related to data standardization, interoperability, governance structures, and varying levels of supplier readiness, particularly among SMEs.

Aim: To examine how digital product passports can be integrated into public procurement processes and to assess their implications for innovation and sustainability outcomes.

NB: This topic is supported by Anskaffelsesakademiet – the Norwegian Academy of Public Procurement. Students who choose this topic may receive up to NOK 10,000 to support their research. In addition, students who receive an A or B on their final thesis assessment may be selected to participate in the national competition for the best master’s thesis in public procurement in Norway. The competition includes students from universities and university colleges across the country, and the winning thesis receives NOK 30,000. As inspiration, the award has been offered four times so far, and students from Molde University College have won it twice.