Mission economy
The recent Icehouse Ventures Startup Block Party in ōtautahi, Chch brought the innovation ecosystem together to party at Partly. Former Rocket Lab employee Levi Fawcett had the backing of his boss Peter Beck when he set Partly up, with the proviso that he had to create - well, another billion-dollar company. Partly is on a mission to connect the world's parts, and is indeed on track to fulfill its potential (raising $37m in NZ’s largest Series A, back in 2022). Bold ambition, indeed, and inspiring for all the Block Party attendees.
On a mission
Some ambitious missions can, quite literally, change the world. There’s an increasing appetite for investment into moonshot technologies. Think abundant energy with Openstar’s fusion technology or liquid electricity delivered by Ternary Kinetics that, if successful, will revolutionise the energy sector (and align with UN Sustainable Development Goal 7).
Mariana Mazzucato’s book Mission Economy breaks down the importance of applying boldness and experimentation to solving the ‘wicked problems’ of the world such as climate change. She advocates bringing public and private sectors together to collaborate on investing in solutions, with policymaking focused on outcomes. The concept came from NASA’s Apollo Space Programme and successful moon landing in the 1960’s, which involved unprecedented collaboration through a ‘mission-led’ approach.?Multiple spinoff innovations resulted from the programme itself too, from home insulation through to baby formula.
Mazzucato proposes a new political economy of 'whatever it takes', with big picture thinking to create a sense of mission. How might we transform our economy with the type of thinking that resulted in the space programme? ‘Moonshot’ thinking is about setting targets that are ambitious but also inspirational, and able to catalyse innovation across multiple sectors. Effectively, choosing a direction for the economy then putting the problems that need solving at the centre of how we design our economic system. Mazzucato also calls for corporate governance modes to be? more purposeful, moving from shareholder capitalism to stakeholder capitalism.
From financialisation at all costs, we need visionary change. And she challenges government to lead, with vision and purpose.
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Science-led
Mazzucato has helped the European Commission to apply a mission-oriented approach to its innovation policy. Starting with the problem you want to solve, you then frame that as a goal that catalyses investment and innovation, and inspires new collaborations. Horizon Europe is the world’s largest multilateral research and innovation programme. Aotearoa, NZ is now an associated country in Horizon Europe Pillar 2, meaning NZ partners can lead or join these consortia on equal terms with EU counterparts and receive funding through the programme. The 5 mission clusters are:?
The rewards of economic success should not just work for those at the top. The whole way we need to think needs to change. Global challenges are immense and urgent. We need to harness that sense of common purpose and engage in mission-based thinking.?
Opportunities
Our research, science and innovation (RSI) system sits at the heart of any mission-led approach.?With the recent wrap-up of the 10-year investment into physical sciences and engineering for economic growth through the Science for Technological Innovation National Science Challenge (SfTI) last month, what comes next for Aotearoa, NZ? That's the question asked by Sally Davenport in the Business of Tech podcast, well worth a listen here.
Sir Peter Gluckman is currently leading the review process for the RSI sector. We look forward to the next chapter - and, support a mission-oriented approach to our own innovation policy too.