[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/en\/article\/modal\/6784\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n 3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EMissions could make Europe cool again \u2013 Prof. Mariana Mazzucato\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EShe was asked by\u0026nbsp;Carlos Moedas, EU Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, to advise him on missions and presented him with a report on mission-oriented research and innovation in the EU at the Centre for European Policy Studies ideas lab event in Brussels, Belgium, on 22 February.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EThe idea of arranging Europe\u2019s research and innovation funding around missions is being discussed as part of the preparations for the EU\u2019s next funding programme after Horizon 2020. Could you explain what a mission is?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027(It\u0027s) using innovation to address a challenge by solving a problem. The bold, important problems \u2013 big societal objectives that are going to matter across Europe.\u0026nbsp;These problems are more social and wicked than going to the moon which was mainly a technical feat.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EHow do they differ from societal challenges such as demographic change and food security, which\u0026nbsp;underpin the EU\u2019s current research funding programme?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027With a mission you can actually answer, \u201cDid we achieve it or not? Yes or no?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027We have these challenges and they\u0027re very important. We\u0027ve got to keep them. But they\u0027re too broad to really direct innovation. We (also) have projects, they\u0027re fine, but they\u0027ve become very dispersed. In terms of really stimulating the cross-sectoral innovation, economy-wide, bottom-up solutions in (the) way the man on the moon project did, but applied to the more complicated problems involving health and energy systems, we\u0027ve never done it.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou\u0027ve said in your report that by directing research and innovation funding towards solving a problem, the potential benefits are staggering. How so?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027First of all, historically, we know that many of the biggest innovations, like the internet, GPS, actually came as spillovers from the process by which there was actually big thinking to solve a problem. Along the way you\u0027re trying to solve it, there\u0027s all sorts of bottom-up solutions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027(Secondly), we have a huge crisis in Europe of lack of business investment. Missions are a way to excite business to invest. And you don\u2019t get business to invest by giving them tax credits. Business invests when it sees an opportunity: \u201cOh yes that\u0027s going to be a cool new thing, I want to be there first.\u201d By setting the framework and the stage for something new that doesn\u0027t exist \u2013 which I call co-creating and co-shaping markets \u2013 you also get businesses to increase their investment.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027(Thirdly), many economies have skewed industrial systems, so they might have lots of good pharma and nothing else. Mission-oriented problems require lots of different sectors and actors to collaborate. For example a health mission, (such as) 100% independence of people with Alzheimer\u0027s in their homes, would require digital, nutrition, transport, medicine. Inter-sectoral collaboration has a bigger economy-wide effect than just focusing on one technology, one research project, one sector.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022tw-text-center tw-text-blue tw-font-bold tw-text-2xl lg:tw-w-1\/2 tw-border-2 tw-border-blue tw-p-12 tw-my-8 lg:tw-m-12 lg:tw--ml-16 tw-float-left\u0022\u003E\n \u003Cspan class=\u0022tw-text-5xl tw-rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n \u003Cp class=\u0022tw-font-serif tw-italic\u0022\u003E\u0026#039;Missions are a way to excite business to invest.\u0026#039;\u003C\/p\u003E\n \u003Cfooter\u003E\n \u003Ccite class=\u0022tw-not-italic tw-font-normal tw-text-sm tw-text-black\u0022\u003EProfessor Mariana Mazzucato, University College London, UK\u003C\/cite\u003E\n \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYou\u0027ve mentioned that 10 to 15 years would be a good timeframe for a mission, what\u0027s a good budget?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027It\u2019s got to be serious. It has to be a significant amount of money. The US, just to put things in perspective, just for pharmaceuticals and biotech, spends over 30 billion (dollars) of public funds a year. Just for that one sector. And we are as big as the US.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027But, you know, when we want to go to war, we go to war. If we\u2019re doing things that are really important, we\u0027ll find the money. By doing missions, you actually create investment opportunities. So it is a question of\u0026nbsp;how to formulate these missions properly, in ways that then leverage and crowd in the private sector.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027That\u0027s what we\u0027re talking about, creating a stronger buzz. Maybe Europe will become the coolest place where people are thinking about (a certain) problem, such as carbon-neutral cities. So capital around the world comes here to learn. Which is a really important issue because often you hear in different Member States, \u201cOh well, we finance all this and they all end up in Silicon Valley.\u201d But you become the cool place to be. Some might leave but many will come.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIs it the public sector\u2019s role to shape innovation in that way, to shape the markets?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Yes, it always has. Whether it does it successfully is the real question. Again, in my book \u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/marianamazzucato.com\/entrepreneurial-state\/\u0022\u003EThe Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs. Private Sector Myths\u003C\/a\u003E,\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003EI described how the internet, GPS, touchscreen, nuclear energy, fracking \u2013\u0026nbsp;it all came from politicians making choices. We\u2019ve always been making choices, but often they\u2019re too narrow, they\u2019re sectoral or technological, or too broad. Missions are inter-sectoral, inter-actor, inter-disciplinary, so it\u2019s much less risky and you\u2019re choosing a problem that has to be solved. And society, through democratic engagement, helps you decide what those problems are.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027We should learn from Member States like Denmark and Germany who have had quite clear missions, have also in the process created much stronger links between manufacturing and services. Denmark has become the number one provider of high-tech services to China\u2019s green economy. We should also learn about the capacity and capabilities required by the public actors involved. They will need to be smart and think out of the box as managers are trained to do in business schools. This means overcoming the fear of failure, and welcoming the underlying uncertainty. We should not copy DARPA (the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) but of course learn about its internal structures that fostered that experimentation on the way to the Internet.\u0027\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhat role can the public play?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027There are different types of public engagement. One is, what are missions? (For example), civil society organisations, (such as) nursing organisations should be central to any health mission \u2013 designing it, thinking about it. I think personally that we need much more engagement with the trade unions, the nursing organisations, consumer groups, the green movement \u2013 getting them involved in the selection but also the monitoring along the way.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027On the demand side (the public is) really important. Lots of innovations, we discover their use through use. So feedback on the use.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027These missions are going to require investments that are high risk, so they have to be bold. Lots of this stuff will fail. Well, when it doesn\u0027t fail, how do we divide up the wealth? We should engage in the debate about how do we share the wealth that\u0027s created from these missions so you don\u2019t just socialise the risks but also the rewards.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Prof. Mazzucato presented Commissioner Moedas with a report detailing how the EU could benefit from mission-oriented research and innovation.\u0022 height=\u0022424\u0022 src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/MazzucatoHandoverHorizontal.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Prof. Mazzucato presented Commissioner Moedas with a report detailing how the EU could benefit from mission-oriented research and innovation.\u0022 width=\u0022750\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022tw-italic tw-mb-4\u0022\u003EProf. Mazzucato presented Commissioner Moedas with a report detailing how the EU could benefit from mission-oriented research and innovation.\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIt all sounds very promising \u2013 what could go wrong?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027Missions can get captured (by a particular sector) if you don\u0027t make sure the focus is on the problem and the different actors and multiple solutions. Missions must not become simply legacy projects that increase a particular minister\u0027s reputation. And missions must not be constructed so their impact is only on a limited part of Europe. One way to prevent capture is to engage civil society as much as possible. The report discusses this explicitly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027You actually need to be adaptive and flexible and pivot. It might be that you realise along the way, \u201cThat was framed far too broadly, or too narrowly, or that\u2019s not going to be achievable, let\u0027s pivot, change and go that way.\u201d That level of strategic flexibility is how lots of these mission-oriented organisations have succeeded.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIn your report you\u0027ve said that missions should be bold, have a clear direction, be ambitious but realistic, cross disciplines, sectors and actors, and, finally, have multiple bottom-up solutions. Is there anything else that could maximise the chances of success?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027We need to make sure that the agencies and the organisations responsible (for the missions) actually welcome this serendipity and this experimentation process. If they\u2019re going to be doing net present value calculations, cost-benefit analysis, you\u0027re in trouble.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027For me, mission-oriented policies have to be driven by mission-oriented organisations. This ability to welcome risk, to think big, to evaluate in a dynamic way, to actively shape and co-create markets and not just fix them, to then also assess that process, to be much more active in how you might engage, just requires a very different mindset than the current one.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0027I think it\u0027s a cultural change and it\u0027ll be very healthy and it\u0027ll dynamise Europe again and make citizens excited and proud to be European.\u0027\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022moreinfoblock\u0022\u003E\n \u003Ch3\u003ESend the EU on a mission\u003C\/h3\u003E\n \u003Cp\u003EIf you have any inspiring ideas for a \u0027moonshot\u0027 mission or feedback on Prof. Mazzucato\u0027s report, then the EU would like to hear from you.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMissions, such as plastic-free oceans or creating 100 carbon-neutral cities by 2030, are seen as a powerful way to create an impact in research and innovation. Ambitious ideas are good but they should also be realistic and actionable. The outputs from the mission need to be measurable and achievable within a set timeframe, and ideas which cross boundaries into other disciplines are welcome. Missions should have the potential to transform science, technology, industry and society\u0026nbsp;while also capturing\u0026nbsp;people\u0027s\u0026nbsp;imaginations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor more information about entry criteria, go to \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/eusurvey\/runner\/482a79de-3fad-17e1-c60d-2e4418c1a95d\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Ethe entry form to submit your mission ideas\u003C\/a\u003E, where you can also fill out a short survey. The call for feedback\u0026nbsp;is open until 3 April 2018.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EIf you liked this article, please consider sharing it on social media.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/bit.ly\/newsalertsignup\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cimg class src=\u0022https:\/\/horizon-magazine.eu\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/news-alert-final.jpg\u0022 alt width=\u0022983\u0022 height=\u0022222\u0022\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/textarea\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E\n\n \u003Cdiv id=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 class=\u0022ecl-help-block description\u0022\u003E\n Please copy the above code and embed it onto your website to republish.\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n \u003C\/div\u003E\n\u003Cinput autocomplete=\u0022off\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022form-lsbcf-plpp38in7yv18ljagm8rkatrcgptxoierig-c\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_build_id\u0022 value=\u0022form-lsbcF-pLpp38IN7yV18ljagM8rkatrCGptXoierIG-c\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003Cinput data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 type=\u0022hidden\u0022 name=\u0022form_id\u0022 value=\u0022modal_form_example_modal_form\u0022 \/\u003E\n\u003C\/form\u003E\n\u003C\/div\u003E","dialogOptions":{"width":"800","modal":true,"title":"Republish this content"}}]