ERNACT led and Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme funded MINDSET project partners have made significant progress in understanding the Mission Oriented Innovation (MOI) phenomenon through the recently developed Mission Oriented Innovation in the NPA Area Assessment report. This document reviews its state-of-the-art in the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) area.
Mission-Oriented Innovation is an emerging field giving a better strategic and holistic orientation of Science, Technology and Innovation to respond to one or several of the grand societal challenges (missions) and create public value to society. The report focuses on two main aspects:
- Understanding MOI: Analysing different approaches to identify those most suitable for the challenges in NPA regions.
- Revision of Existing MOI Experiences: Examining MOI experiences at national and regional levels, covering both partner countries and other NPA member states.
Key findings from the MINDSET report, focusing in 4 Northern Periphery and Arctic countries, Finland, Ireland, Norway, and Sweden, reveal:
- MOI initiatives are present in all reviewed countries but are somewhat limited in scope.
- Often, these initiatives are defined only at a strategic level and lack concrete governance instruments, defined actions, resources, or operational responsibility for implementation.
- The impact at regional and local levels is minimal, with the role of regional and local actors remaining vague or unclear.