MISSIONS: Publications

IIPP is currently helping both the UK government and the European Commission to think about how to transform grand challenges into mission-oriented policies. Find out more below..

MISSIONS: Publications

Since IIPP launched in 2017, our research has impacted global policy...

The UK government released a White Paper on its Industrial Strategy on 26 November 2017. The White Paper specifically cited IIPP’s first Working Paper, on Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy: Challenges and Opportunities:

“[We will] direct the government’s convening power, promote exports and inward investments, and build consumer trust in new technologies. Where appropriate, teams will develop ‘missions’ to tackle the Grand Challenges. They involve tackling specific problems, such as reducing carbon emissions by a given percentage over a specific year period, using well defined and concrete goals to allow progress to be monitored and assessed, and the option to change course when appropriate.”

From 1 January 2018, IIPP Director Professor Mazzucato became the Special Advisor of Carlos Moedas, the European Commissioner for Research, Science and Innovation, to help lead the thinking about mission oriented innovation in the Framework 9 for the Horizon 2020 programme. On 22nd February, the European Commission published Prof Mazzucato's report Mission-Oriented Research & Innovation in the European Union. In June 2019, Prof Mazzucato launched a new report on Governing Missions in the European Union, which focused on the details behind implementing missions in three key themes: Engaging citizens, public sector capabilities and financing to crowd-in other forms of finance.

For more information about IIPP's work in this sphere, visit our dedicated Industrial Strategy page.

MISSIONS: Research

Download the policy brief:

UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)
Policy Brief
This policy brief sets out why, where, and how missions matter.

Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy: Challenges and Opportunities
Working Paper
Ref: IIPP WP 2017-01

Thinking About Technology Policy: ‘Market Failures’ versus ‘Innovation systems’
Working Paper
Ref: IIPP WP 2017-02

Mission-Oriented Research & Innovation in the European Union
EU Report for the European Commission

Further reading

Mariana Mazzucato (2017), "Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy: challenges and opportunities", IIPP Working Paper 2017-1.  This working paper is simultaneously published as a joint RSA/IIPP report.

Mariana Mazzucato (2013), "The Entrepreneurial State: debunking public vs. private sector myths", Anthem Press: London, UK, ISBN 9780857282521, US edition (Public Affairs) and translated into Italian (Laterza), German (Kunstmann), Spanish (RBA Books), Portuguese (Companhia Das Letras), Dutch (Nieuw Amsterdam), Greek (Kritiki), and forthcoming in Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Polish.

Mariana Mazzucato and Caetano Penna (2016) “Beyond market failures: the market creating and shaping roles of state investment banks”, Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 19(4): 305-326, SPRU working paper version

Mariana Mazzucato (2016) "From Market Fixing to Market-Creating: A new framework for innovation policy",  Special Issue of Industry and Innovation: “Innovation Policy – can it make a difference?”, 23 (2)

Mariana Mazzucato and Cian O'Donovan (2016) "The BBC as market shaper and creator" in Rethinking the BBC: Public media in the 21st Century, Seth-Smith, N., et. al. (eds.), Commonwealth Publishing. 

Mariana Mazzucato and Caetano Penna (2016) ‘The Brazilian Innovation System: A Mission-Oriented Policy Proposal’, Report for the Brazilian Government,commissioned by the Brazilian Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation through the Centre for Strategic Management and Studies.

Mariana Mazzucato and Caetano Penna, Eds (2015) "Mission-Oriented Finance for Innovation: New Ideas for Investment-Led Growth", Rowman & Littlefield, Book, ISBN 978-1-78348-495-9

Mariana Mazzucato (2014), Think Piece: “A Mission-Oriented Approach to Building the Entrepreneurial State”, paper commissioned by Innovate UK-Technology Strategy Board November 2014T14/165