Challenge-driven knowledge and innovation policy
In this programme, we investigate how government can mobilise research and innovation for dealing with sustainability transitions and tackling societal challenges in a targeted manner, for example to enable nature-inclusive agriculture, future-proof healthcare, or water-robust spatial planning. In recent years, all kinds of new ideas have been developed for making innovation policy ‘mission-driven’ and ‘transformative’. There are various initiatives – such as the Netherlands Climate Research Initiative and the Dutch Research Agenda – that are experimenting in practice with the challenge-driven programming and funding of research and innovation. Together with pioneers, we aim to take such a challenge-driven approach a step further. What difficulties do the pioneers come across? Where do they see opportunities?
We shall contribute to the further development of challenge-driven knowledge and innovation policies by investigating, highlighting, and advancing a number of promising practices. We will do this together with policymakers at various levels of government, with policy practitioners at funding organisations, programme agencies and other intermediary organisations, and with individuals and organisations who put challenge-driven knowledge generation and innovation to practice.
Together with policymakers we aim to learn, for example, about decision-making for challenge-driven innovation programmes: what values and interests are most important and how should one deal with power inequalities, conflicts and uncertainty? Other questions concern the coordination of challenge-driven innovation policies with other policy fields and how to design a monitoring system that enables quick learning and adjusting. With policy practitioners, we aim to learn about how civil-society organisations and individuals can be given a significant role in research and innovation. How can different types of knowledge be brought together and applied? What changes are needed in the conditions for awarding grants and in the selection criteria? With scientists and others engaged in transformative or transdisciplinary research, we aim to learn about the problems they encounter and about opportunities to increase the scope for a challenge-driven approach to knowledge and innovation.
Photo: Cyclists in Amsterdam - Norali Nayla/Unsplash