Mission‑Oriented Innovation Policies for Net Zero

Annex A. Definitions of mission design principles and corresponding questions

Table A.1. Definitions of mission design principles and their corresponding questions

Design principles	Corresponding questions
Strategic orientation
Legitimacy A large group of stakeholders (including citizens) is engaged in building consensus on the societal challenge(s) to be prioritised.	 What stakeholders have been involved in the initial consultations and how?  What roles have they played in the initial decisions regarding the orientations and design of the initiative?  What diagnosis and/or foresight studies or other sources of information on needs, trends and opportunities have been used to feed into debates and decisions?  What actions have been taken to achieve consensus and increase buy-in/ownership of the initiative?  What has been the political process in initiating and providing the orientations?  Is the initiative supported by high-level political or administrative officials?  Is the initiative embedded in government authoritative strategic documents and processes?
Directionality Clear orientation and strategic guidance for developing appropriate policy intervention are informed and selected.	 What challenges does the initiative address?  How are the orientations formalised?  What debates have surrounded the choices of the orientation of the initiative?  Have the orientations been contested?
Intentionality Specific and well-articulated goals, with a clear timeline and milestones, are derived from the broad objectives.	 Have the broad challenges and orientations been translated into clear and measurable objectives/targets?  How precise/granular are these targets?  Are the objectives set against a clear timeline?  How distant are the targets from the current performance? How ambitious/transformative are they?
Flexibility The targets and means of intervention to meet them can be revised at different stages of the process (predetermined milestones) based on feedback from monitoring and evaluation.	 What processes and information channels have been established for monitoring progress toward the goals?  What are the established process and rules for revising/updating goals?  What arrangements are in place to revise the objectives if needed?

 

Strategic co-ordination
Horizontality Several policy bodies covering different policy fields (e.g. ministries, agencies) are involved in the governance of the initiative.	 What policy fields (sectors/thematic areas, stages of the innovation chain, represented by different bodies) are covered in the governance and decision making?  What governance structure supports horizontal co-ordination?  What are the main co-ordination bodies (with their functions)?  To what extent does the co-ordination process involve actors besides the policy arena?  What degree and form of co-ordination are there between the different policy actors (e.g. strong or weak co-ordination, binding or non-binding decisions, centralised or decentralised decision making, etc.)?  To what degree are the budgets integrated (e.g. common pot/integrated budget, earmarked decentralised budget, decentralised budget, etc.)?
Verticality Several policy bodies covering different levels of government are involved in the governance of the initiative.	 What is the governance structure to support vertical co-ordination?  What levels of government (national, regional, local) are involved in the governance and decision making, and how are they represented?
Exploratory/novelty Policy bodies and stakeholders co-ordinate their plans (e.g. via a portfolio approach) to cover a broader spectrum of alternative options/development paths, share associated risks, and learn from successes and failures.	 What is the range of (technological and non-technological) alternative options supported to achieve the initiative’s objectives?  What arrangements are in place to scan/test different (technological or non‑technological) options?  Is the initiative connected with relevant fundamental/breakthrough research and how?  Are there mechanisms or ‘spaces’ for experimentation within the initiative?
Demand-articulation Potential users (or related representatives of the demand side) and relevant regulatory authorities are involved in the initiatives from the beginning and participate in the decisions.	 Are potential users and/or relevant policy/regulatory authorities involved in the governance of the initiative and what role do they play?  Are there any formal plans for regulatory reforms and support to market deployment (e.g. public procurement)?  How are the demand and need dimensions embedded in the initiative?

 

Policy implementation
Policy mix diversity A package of policy instruments supports a diverse set of activities mixing different disciplines, sectors and areas, across the whole space of the innovation spectrum from (oriented) basic research to demonstration and early market creation, as needed to meet the objectives.	 What modes of intervention/policy measures are mobilised to achieve the objectives?  What arrangements are in place to ensure operational consistency (i.e. reduce overlaps, enhance complementarities) of the different policy instruments/measures?
Leverage Public and private stakeholders involved in the different phases of the innovation process are mobilised to contribute to decision making and funding of the initiative.	 How are partners and beneficiaries (including the private sector, other public bodies and stakeholders) engaged in the initiative?  What incentives are in place to raise funds and ensure other types of contributions from partners and beneficiaries?  What factors are fostering or hindering the level of engagement of (potential or actual) partners?
Evaluability and reflexivity The policy is endowed with monitoring and evaluation methods and processes adapted to its systemic nature to assess its results and learn from its implementation in view of continuous improvement.	 What methods and processes measure the progress, outcomes and impact of the initiatives?  To what extent are these methods and processes adequate to capture the specific added value (“systemic effects”) of the missions (relative to other traditional policies)?  What arrangements are in place to support learning and improvement of the initiative?  Do the policy bodies have the sufficient absorptive capacity to analyse the information stemming from monitoring and evaluation and translate this into action?