Mission-oriented innovation policies have reached a pivotal moment. Emerging in the late 2010s as a promising method for tackling complex societal challenges, missions set bold ambitious goals and then take a systemic approach to achieve them – creating new forms of coordination within and outside of government to ensure a coherent set of policies is in place to achieve their goals. Missions have since expanded rapidly, with more than 260 launched worldwide. This reflects not only increasing policy attention but also the growing engagement of a vibrant research community.
Yet this rapid expansion has brought both opportunities and challenges. High expectations have created pressure for quick results, but meaningful impacts take time to materialise. Critics have raised questions about missions’ capacity to deliver on their promises, while shifting political priorities and budget constraints are testing missions’ long-term resilience.
Recognising missions’ achievements and shortcomings, the OECD has undertaken a structured interactive exercise to draw lessons, identify gaps and support more effective mission design and implementation. This effort fostered a unique dialogue between policymakers and researchers, combining practical experience with evidence to address four essential questions: How should missions be framed to set them on the right course? How should actors, programmes and budgets be enlisted from science, technology and innovation and beyond? How can private sector financial and human resources be crowded in? How can we deliver on missions’ co-developed strategic agendas? This report brings together the lessons from this exercise to offer examples and shared perspectives from those who think and do missions, as well as a set of practical insights on the best practices around mission-oriented innovation policy.