Why does Europe need Research Missions?

Missions are an enormous opportunity to increase the impact of European research and innovation. In fact, they capture the attention of the public and allow to face complex social challenges. They allow to focus research, innovation and investments on fundamental problems to solve, while creating growth, jobs and other positive effects in many sectors. By focusing on R&I investments in new areas, the missions encourage collaboration between different actors and sectors.

Some examples of missions as listed by Prof. Mazzucato in her report:

• transform 100 European cities into carbon neutral cities by 2030;
• reduce the amount of plastic in the seas by 90% by 2025;
• reduce dementia progression by 50% by 2030 in patients with this disease;
• build new satellites and surveillance technologies to reduce the number of immigrants who die crossing the Mediterranean.

In next Framework Programme missions shall :

- have social relevance: missions will have to focus on socially relevant areas where collaboration at European level can bring added value.
- not be limited to a single model: missions can have different shapes and sizes. To be able to produce a social impact it is necessary that the missions are flexible.
- position between a project and a social challenge: the sustainable development goals (SDG) defined by the United Nations (UN) and the social challenges of H2020 are useful for defining a focus, but they are too broad to be pursued. On the other hand, R & I projects have clear and feasible objectives, but their impact often remains isolated because it is not related to major social challenges. The level of detail of the missions is therefore placed at the intermediate level between the major challenges and the projects.

Missions shall be selected against the following 5 key criteria:

1. Bold, exemplary, with a broad social relevance;
2. Clear direction: targeted, measurable and circumscribed over time (to be able to analyze success or failure);
3. Ambitious but at the same time realistic;
4. Transdisciplinary, trans-sectorial innovation linking different actors;
5. Different and bottom-up solutions correspond to each mission.

Find out more information on next framework-programme's missions here