The very first IGLO Open meeting of the 2020 was hosted by PolSCA Office. The guest speaker was Mr Mr. Neville Reeve – Head of Sector for Missions at unit A.3 of DG RTD (Policy & Programming Centre) who provided the presentation entitled “Identifying and developing missions under Horizon Europe”. The event took place on Wednesday, 8th of January 2020 and was held at the KoWi premises.
Mr Neville provided audience with a very thorough information on the mission-oriented approach in the Horizon Europe. He started off with reminding the participants the major steps in developing the mission, from the Lamy Report (2017), via first Mazzucato report (2018) until the legislative package on missions under Horizon Europe (2019). Participants had a chance to listen what the missions are and what they are not about. Further, information on mission governance was delivered, with description of Mission Boards and Mission Assemblies. Their roles in identification process of specific missions were explained as well as other actors in the mission co-design process, i.e. dialogue with Member States and European Parliament. Finally, a timeline of planned milestones was described. Last but not least, Mr Reeve answered in a very honest manner to a number of questions rose by the audience.
Introducing mission-approach
The mission-oriented approach is one of the key innovations under the Horizon Europe (HEU) program. It stems out of the Horizon 2020 interim-evaluation and a report of the independent High Level Group on maximising the impact of EU research & innovation programmes (LAB-FAB-APP). This concept was later on developed by Professor Mariana Mazzucato who argued, that mission-oriented policy could be teh instrument to reframe the way to tackle grand societal challenges (link). Back in early 2018 Commision held a call for feedback on initial concept of missions, that PolSCA / PAS also participated in.
Key features of missions are:
– ensuring visibility and significant impact
– achieving bold, measurable targets within a specific timeframe
– providing solutions to major challenges facing society today.
Mission areas and identification of mission topic
Missions are a new approach to R&I policy-making which means setting defined goals, with specific targets and working to achieve them in a set time. The five mission areas have been identified and agreed among all EU Member States and are already a part of the HEU legislative package.
5 mission areas are:
– Adaptation to Climate Change including Societal Transformation
– Cancer
– Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and inland Waters
– Climate neutral and smart cities
The 5 mission areas are fairly wide, thus they need to be narrowed down. That’s why Mission Boards (MBs) were created as a result of the call for expression of interest launched and finalized by mid-2019. Precisely at that time, a second report by Prof. Mazzucato was revealed in which she shares her views on governing missions (link).
Each Mission Board consists of 15 experts, including the chair. They are composed of a broad mix of experts from innovation, research, policy making, civil society and practitioner organisations. They held their first meetings in September 2019 during Research & Innovation Days EU, at once engaging in the discussion with a broad public.
Apart from Mission Boards, so-called Mission Assemblies (MAs) were identified within each mission area. Members of the Assemblies are though to support the workings of the Boards, by providing further expert knowledge. The first joint meeting between Boards and Assemblies are scheduled for the 1st quarter of the 2020.
A full list of Board and Assembly members is available here.
There is a number of Poles among Member of the Boards and Assemblies:
Members of the Mission Boards:
- Mission area 2 – Cancer:
- Prof. Konrad Rydzyński – Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź
- Mission area 3 – Healthy
Oceans, Seas, Coastal and inland Waters:
- Monika Stankiewicz – Helocome (Finland)
- Mission area 4 – Climate-neutral
and smart cities
- Prof. Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz – Former chair of the Central Bank of Poland, also served as Mayor of Warsaw; (Chair of the Board),
- Mission area 5 – Soil health
and Food:
- Prof. Marta Pogrzeba – Institute for Ecology of Industrial Areas (IETU), Katowice.
Assembly members:
- Mission area 1 – Adaptation to Climate Change including Societal Transformation:
- Prof. Zbigniew Kundzewicz – Institute for Agricultural and Forest Environment, Polish Academy of Sciences in Poznań
- Dr Piotr Mysiak – University of Zielona Góra,
- Mission area 2 – Cancer:
- Prof. Jacek Jassem – Medical University of Gdansk,
- Prof. Rodryg Ramlau – Poznan University of Medical Sciences,
- Prof. Agnieszka Sobczak-Kupiec – Cracow University of Technology,
- Mission area 3 – Healthy Oceans, Seas, Coastal and inland Waters:
- Dr Klara Ramm – Chamber of Economy of the Polish Waterworks,
- Mission area 5 – Soil health and Food:
- Dr Anna Krzywoszyńska – University of Sheffield.
Moreover, in order to link different actors and provide for a level of continuity, so –called Missions sub-groups were formed to work under the format of the Shadow Strategic Configuration of the Horizon Europe Programme Committee (Shadow SPC). Their members are being nominated directly by Members States and they role is to coordinate and translate mission-approach policy at the national level. So far, these groups were not yet extensively utilized by either Boards or Commission itself, however more engagement is expected soon.
Their first and the most important task of the Mission Boards is to define specific missions. Initially, this task was supposed to be achieved by end of 2019, however due to extensive work needed, this is now shifted towards mid-2020. So far, Mission Boards have met 3 – 5 times (depending on the area) and major activities involved early scoping and foresight exercises. In the nearest future, members of Assemblies and SPC Sub-groups will be involved in discussions. Also, Boards cooperate with the EP, in particular the ITRE Committee, with initial exchanges already concluded and follow-up interactions to be scheduled. The identification process is of crucial importance, as mission topic shall be included in the first Strategic Plan for 2021 – 2024, followed with incorporation of missions in the Work Programmes. This ambitious process shall be finalized by end of 2020, in order to enable smooth start of the Horizon Europe on the 1st of January 2021.
Future outlook – implementing missions under Horizon Europe
Missions will be funded under 2nd pillar (i.e. Global Challenges & European Industrial Competitiveness), and up to 10% of its budget can be spent on missions in the first three years of HEU. Since this is a limited amount, it is expected that the other two pillars will also contribute, as well as other centrally-managed European programs could contribute too. However, details of how the missions are going to be implemented are not yet clear.
Yet, missions are not just about money and synergies will be just as important. These shall include synergies across the programme (like ERC or EIC), with other EU-policies (inc. ERDF or ESF) and with Member State activities (national instruments). This makes it such an ambitious goal that in order to work, shall mobilize many actors.
Worth noting is the fact, that Mission Boards announced in summer 2019 will focus in their first term of office (i.e. up to 18 months) in identification process of mission topic. Mission Boards will be renewed for their second term in order to monitor implementation of the missions.
In principle, mission is much more than a project, even if it was supposed to be considered as one of those big pan-European initiatives. In fact, targeted impacts of specific missions will be delivered via the portfolio approach. Project portfolios will be established under mission topics, with the EC and Boards working jointly in order to monitor and evaluate each missions. This will include assessment of progress towards short, medium and long-term targets and – if necessary – phasing-out of the missions.
Citizens’ engagement will play a vital role in both, identifying and implanting missions under Horizon Europe. Commission plans to initiate such public outreach activities, in partnership with various stakeholders, already early in 2020. This shall serve as a good starting point for a fruitful dialogue with boarder public.
