The start of the implementation phase makes the new instrument more concrete. The EC foresees an update of the work programme on Missions for late 2021.
On 29 September, the European Commission (EC) officially launched the implementation phase of the new Horizon Europe instrument of ‘Missions’. During the launch ceremony, Commissioner Mariya Gabriel (Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth) compared the Mission approach to the response to the coronavirus pandemic, which “has shown that we can only tackle our biggest problems with a collective effort rooted in research and innovation”. She is convinced that Missions “will mobilise the enormous potential of the EU and rally instruments and policies to achieve important goals”.
The launch event featured the presentation of the ‘Communication on European Missions’, which the EC adopted earlier that day. The policy paper contains brief overviews of the five Missions and includes an annex with factsheets for each of them. The latter provide the rationales for each Mission, as well as information on respective goals, budgets, and planned actions. The Communication underscores the novel character of the Mission approach, highlighting the importance of a coordinated, all-in approach towards “bold, concrete and measurable targets”, an approach that fully mobilises and depends on public and private actors well beyond regular Horizon Europe instruments, engaging with Member States, regional and local authorities, research institutes, entrepreneurs and public and private investors. In a nutshell, the five Missions aim to deliver the following solutions to global challenges by 2030:
- Adaptation to climate change: support of at least 150 European regions and communities to become climate resilient
- Cancer: working with the Europe’s ‘Beating Cancer Plan’ to improve the lives of more than 3 million people through prevention, cure and solutions to live longer and better
- Restore oceans and waters
- Transform 100 cities in the EU to climate-neutral and smart cities
- A soil deal for Europe: create 100 living labs and lighthouses to lead the transition towards healthy soils
The launch event included the presentation of the Implementation Plans for each Mission. These extensive documents were developed as part of an EC internal preparatory phase earlier this year and were crucial in receiving a green light for the launch of each of the five Missions. The plans include objectives, ways of reaching them, Mission-specific governance, budget and financing strategy, as well as indicators for measuring performance. This past summer, the EC assessed the plans against a set of six criteria (see SwissCore article), looking for instance into the added value of each Mission compared to existing EU initiatives. The Missions’ goals were assessed according to whether they actually require research and innovation. An important criterion was also whether the candidate Missions enjoyed the support of several EU Commissioners, and whether that support translated into budgetary support and alignment of related EU policies. Finally, the candidate Missions needed to be realistically reachable by 2030, within the budget available. All five candidate Missions passed this assessment and are now moving to their implementation phase.
Already during the preparatory phase, the Horizon Europe Main Work Programme for 2021-2022 included first calls for coordination and support actions (CSAs) to prepare the roll out of the Missions (the calls closed in September and October). The CSAs include limited support for each of the five Mission areas, especially for engaging stakeholders and identifying needs. For instance, the CSA for the climate change adaptation Mission foresees, among others, to improve the understanding of climate risk, targeting regional and local authorities, citizens and other stakeholders. Furthermore, a transversal support action to complement Missions through national activities is included. The goal of this CSA, covering all Missions, is “to develop a coordination network to engage Member States and Associated Countries, and in particular their respective programmes and actions”, that are relevant for the five Missions. An important goal of this CSA is to establish a ‘Missions Core Network’ that will support alignment and coordination between national, regional and local initiatives for the implementation of Missions. A second transversal CSA aims at creating a “mutually supportive relationship” between Missions and the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative (see also SwissCore article). The EC announced during the launch event that this June 2021 edition of the Work Programme will be updated with a full research and innovation agenda for Missions by the end of 2021.
During the current preparatory stage, based on coordination and support actions that prepare the implementation of Missions and create transversal networks, third countries are not involved. Participation in CSAs include only in exceptional cases entities from third countries. In the above mentioned Work Programme, only the Cancer Mission mentions – in a general way – the collaboration with third countries. In October, Jean-Eric Paquet, the Director-General of Directorate General (DG) for Research and Innovation, was cautious about third countries’ involvement in Missions – without completely excluding it in this interview. He mentioned that third countries would be able to join in only at a later stage, saying “we first want to make this a success with and within member states”.
On 21 October, the EC published additional reports, providing foresight information in support of each Mission. The reports were drafted earlier in 2021 by independent experts in close collaboration with the respective Mission Boards. The documents support the Missions through advice and scenarios based on the analysis of trends, emerging new knowledge and technology – with the goal to help Mission Boards and those involved in the implementation of the Missions to better understand future developments and how to design Missions in view of new challenges.
Since February 2021, Missions are managed by ‘Mission Managers’ at five different DGs of the EC. The mandate of the five Mission Boards that were formed to help specify, design and start the implementation of Missions expires at the end of 2021. A call for expressions of interest for new Mission Board members is foreseen for later this autumn. According to the EC, the new Mission Boards will play “a vital role in advising on the implementation of the Missions”. Each of the five Mission areas was also supported by an ‘Assembly’ of experts that provided additional ideas. The EC has not informed yet about the possible renewal of these Assemblies.