As part of the 2019 Presidency of Taftie, the European network of innovation agencies, Luxinnovation has announced that on Thursday 6 June it will organise a conference entitled "Mission oriented Research & Innovation" at the Château de Bourlingster in order to discuss how the actions of national innovation agencies can be more relevant to citizens.
 
As governments consider how best to boost economic growth and find the right incentives to convince companies to continue their investments, thinking is underway to ensure that research, development and innovation efforts serve citizens better whilst providing new economic opportunities for companies.

"For the time being, R&D still operates too often in silos: great things are developed, but when they are put together, they do not always respond to citizens' concerns in areas such as health, education or climate. This is why it is necessary to adopt a broader and multidisciplinary approach to tackle the complex problems of today and tomorrow, and to make R&D approaches more focused," explained Pascal Fabing, Head of Corporate R&D and Innovation Support at Luxinnovation and Executive Secretary of Taftie 2019. 

This is why R&D topics are now, and increasingly, approached from a "mission" angle, which will mobilise citizens and ensure that the different actors work together. This mission-oriented approach has proven its worth in the past, allowing us to send men to the moon or the creation of the Internet. 

Moreover, this approach is the one that underpins the European Commission's upcoming Horizon Europe framework programme. With a budget of some €100 billion for the period 2021-2027, it will succeed the current "Horizon 2020" programme, which will end next year.

An enriching sharing of experience
 
In this context, the role played by national innovation agencies will therefore become increasingly important, particularly with the emergence of a mission-oriented research and innovation strategy with ambitious and clear objectives and high European added value, addressing issues of our daily lives. "The 17 sustainable development goals set by the United Nations to be achieved by 2030 provide a tremendous basis for defining and implementing such missions," said Pascal Fabing. 

The annual conference on Thursday 6 June will provide an opportunity to take stock of the current situation. The approaches adopted by the Research Council of Norway and the Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO) will be presented, whilst a round table will provide further opportunities to share experiences from Austria, Slovenia, The Netherlands, Hungary and Luxembourg.

"Some countries, particularly Nordic countries, or Japan, are well advanced in this approach. This conference will provide a very enriching sharing of experience, as national innovation agencies face formidable challenges today," said Ian Cresswell, Head of International Affairs at Luxinnovation and President Taftie 2019.