Sabrina Bresciani, Francesc Michele Noera, and Francesca Rizzo
EU Missions are large-scale, challenge-driven research and innovation funding frameworks that direct resources towards measurable goals by integrating governmental actors, research, policy, and engagement of societal stakeholders. The approach of developing portfolios of actions supports the deployment of systemic innovation to achieve goals of the Missions. Current challenges faced by actors implementing the Missions include mapping the interdependencies between actions that can compose a portfolio, between actors and resulting outcomes, as well as the analysis of such portfolios and systemic innovation to derive learnings to steer future actions. This paper contends that systemic design offers methods to address these challenges by investigating visual portfolio design and analysis, to grasp diverse interrelations without losing an overview of the envisioned future of which they are part of. Based on work implemented in the four EU Missions, Climate-Neutral & Smart Cities, Adaptation to Climate Change, Soil Deal, and Restore our Ocean, we examine how systemic design can support the design and implementation of the systemic change required to achieve the future envisioned by the Missions’ goals.
Keywords: systemic design; mission-oriented innovation policies; climate action portfolios; EU missions