Mission-oriented innovation towards digital and green transitions in the NPA communities

Programme 2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Northern Periphery and Arctic

Date of latest update: 2025-05-05

Description

Description (EN):

MINDSET will enhance the innovation capacity in the NPA regions. According to OECD (2021) there is a need for new policy approaches to address economic growth, societal wellbeing and global challenges. Mission Oriented Innovation (MOI) is an emerging field to give a better strategic and holistic orientation of Science, Technology and Innovation. The use of Mission Oriented Innovation to address societal challenges necessitates a dual approach, involving both top-down and bottom-up strategies, which draw attention to methodological approaches such as system innovation, design thinking and open innovation. In the context of NPA regions, this approach presents unique challenges: - Representation Challenges: NPA regions, characterized by unique conditions and circumstances, face difficulties in ensuring comprehensive representation in MOI efforts. However, they benefit from historically strong collaboration within the Arctic region and robust local partnerships. - Disparities in Resources: NPA regions encounter significant disparities in accessing critical resources such as key stakeholders, venture capital, research centers, and other assets typically concentrated in urban centers. - Diverse MOI Models: Each country within NPA regions has developed distinct MOI models, making transnational collaboration complex and challenging due to differences in approach and methodology. The instruments and efforts currently used in the EU show that MOI approaches are increasingly promoted and tested. Similarly, the member states have made their own interpretations and developed unique MOI models. Many of these efforts will transform the ways of identifying and resolving societal challenges. They require extensive cross-disciplinary collaboration, engagement of relevant stakeholders and coordination of multiple projects. While MOI approaches are being promoted and tested in the European Union, they have had limited impact at the local or regional level. It emphasizes the need to adapt MOI approaches to suit NPA regions and develop an operational model tailored to their specific conditions and challenges. MINDSET will investigate existing MOI-models and recommend an appropriate MOI suitable for transnational NPA collaboration. MINDSET’s overall objective is to jointly develop a main project proposal to apply mission-oriented innovation (MOI) as the way to address major challenges of NPA regions by assessing suitable MOI approaches and enabling conditions, involving the relevant stakeholders from the participant and other NPA regions to define the scenarios to be addressed by the implementation of the concrete missions in the main project. The target groups that will benefit from this work are local and regional public authorities from the 3 participating and other NPA regions, sectoral agencies, universities and research organisations and international organisations such as EEIG. Mission-oriented innovation aims to respond to one or several of the grand societal challenges (missions) and create public value to society. Due to the severity, extent and complexity of missions, it makes it impossible for an individual organization or region to address grand challenges. Transnational collaboration in NPA communities is needed to create missions and tackle the pressing challenges. In NPA-areas communities, transnational collaboration is particularly necessary to create and address these missions due to their unique challenges. Transnational cooperation is crucial for MOI because it enables a more comprehensive and informed approach to addressing grand societal challenges by pooling knowledge and expertise and providing added value in terms of: - Aggregated Knowledge: Transnational collaboration allows partners to access a broader range of knowledge and experiences that may be limited or unavailable within their own regions. This includes diverse approaches to mission-oriented innovation (MOI), insights into drivers and support structures in the public sector, various tools and methods, and the development of essential skills and capacities. - Improved Context Analysis: By assessing the context on a transnational level, it becomes possible to develop approaches and solutions that consider all aspects of the missions. This holistic perspective may reveal critical insights that might not have been identified when focusing solely on a local or regional basis. MINDSET tackles an emerging concept as there is Mission-oriented innovation. Although some countries have started to adopt it and create some missions, this concept is still in a very incipient stage. Furthermore, at regional and local levels MOI haven’t been explored yet.

Actual Achievements (EN):

The MINDSET project has served to better understand the novel concept of Mission-Oriented-Innovation (MOI) and, more important, what needs to be put in place to implement it in a way that enables NPA territories to address their societal challenges. The project has fully reached its main objective, that was the submission of a main project application making use of the work carried out in the preparatory phase. To achieve it, the 3 participant partners have jointly collaborated, aggregating their knowledge, connections and engaging with relevant stakeholders throughout all the project. The work carried out was organised in 3 main steps: 1) Assessment of MOI in the NPA area 2) Identification and definition of suitable scenarios where to apply MOI 3) Preparation and submission of main project application The MOI assessment in the NPA served to: 1) better understand the MOI concept and its different types and; 2) make a revision of existing MOI experiences in the NPA. In relation to this second point, 4 NPA countries were reviewed: Finland, Ireland, Norway and Sweden. The analysis brought the following findings: - MOI is still in a very early stage with only few initiatives in the countries reviewed. Furthermore, most of the initiatives are run at national levels with no or very limited impact at regional/local level - A need to integrate bottom-up approaches - The adequacy of introducing regional mission-oriented innovation (RegMOI) approaches to draw from or align with the global, EU-level or national MOI aspirations. Considering all these findings, the MINDSET partners started the work of identifying suitable scenarios where to apply MOI to address societal challenges in the participant territories. The starting point considered 9 major societal challenges and partners made an exercise to identify which ones could be addressed in the main project. As a result, 3 societal challenges were selected and subsequent scenarios were described: - Skills development (Sweden) - Climate change action (Ireland) - Housing and public real estate (Finland) These scenarios served as the basis to prepare the main project application as the final step of the project involving 7 additional organisations (partners and associated partners).

Thematic information

ICT and digital society Knowledge and technology transfer

Priority: (VI-B_NPaA_1) Strengthening the innovation capacity for resilient and attractive NPA communities

Priority specific objective: RSO1.1. Developing and enhancing research and innovation capacities and the uptake of advanced technologies

Priority policy objective (Interreg specific objective): PO1 A more competitive and smarter Europe by promoting innovative and smart economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity

Type of intervention: 029 Research and innovation processes, technology transfer and cooperation between enterprises, research centres and universities, focusing on the low carbon economy, resilience and adaptation to climate change

Partners (3)

Lead Partner: European Regions Network for the Application of Communications Technology

Partner’s ID if not PIC: 6544273A | PIC Number : 964478470

Department: N/A

Address: Unit 271, CoLab, ATU Donegal, Port Road, F92 HTW7 Letterkenny, Ireland

Legal status: public

Organisation type: International organisation, EEIG

Website: http://www.ernact.eu

Total budget: EUR 39 780.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 25 857.00

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 13 923.00

Helsingin yliopisto

Name: Helsingin yliopisto

Department: Ruralia Institute

Partner’s ID if not PIC: FI03134717 | PIC Number : 999994535

Address: Yliopistonkatu, 00100 Helsinki, Finland

Department address: Lönnrotinkatu, 50100 Mikkeli, Finland

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www2.helsinki.fi/en/ruralia-institute

Total budget: EUR 29 997.50

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 19 498.37

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 10 499.13

Umeå Universitet

Name: Umeå Universitet

Department: Department of Informatics

Partner’s ID if not PIC: SE202100287401

Address: Umeå universitet, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden

Legal status: public

Organisation type: Higher education and research organisations

Website: https://www.umu.se

Total budget: EUR 30 030.00

Partner’s programme co-financing: EUR 19 519.50

Partner’s programme co-financing rate: 65.00%

Partner contribution: EUR 10 510.50

Partners map

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Mission-oriented innovation towards digital and green transitions in the NPA communities

Project acronym: MINDSET-prep

Project ID: NPA0600152

Project start date: 2023-12-01

Project end date: 2024-11-30

Project status: closed

Relevant linked projects:

INNOCAP (EN) | INNOCAP (NPA, 2023–2025) aims to build public sector innovation capacity to provide enhanced quality and sustainable public services by enabling public sector organisations to lead the adoption of disruptive innovations and digital technologies in the areas of climate change action, environmental management or the digital and green transition.
MINDSET will use cases examined in INNOCAP and consider them from the MOI approach towards a more systemic innovation. (EN), EMERGREEN (EN) | Emerging technologies for greener communities (NPA, 2018–2022) project tested emerging technologies in the provision of green growth type of public services including coastal erosion prevention and zero waste circular management, green growth advisory services, citizen participation and green energy services. Experiences from EMERGREEN are used in MINDSET for developing mission-oriented innovations (MOI) considering digital and green or twin transition in the NPA regions. (EN), DISTINCT (EN) | DISTINCT (NPA project) identified what are the main barriers preventing public sector from adopting disruptive technologies in the provision of public services and also to map the existing knowledge available in the NPA area with potential of being unlocked and implemented.
MINDSET will make use of the findings made in DISTINCT and explore how MOI approaches can make use of existing disruptive technologies capacity to support the digital and green transition of NPA communities. (EN), MERSE (EN) | Business Models Empowering Rural Social Entrepreneurship – voicing the rural norm (NPA, 2023–2026) project aims at transferring and developing better adapted business models, support structures and conditions for rural social enterprises by enhancing transnational knowledge and learning of social enterprises.
MINDSET collaborates with MERSE to better understand the business aspects potentially associated with MOI approaches especially from the perspective of rural and peripherical areas. (EN), BioMonitor4CAP (EN) | Advanced biodiversity monitoring for results-based and effective agricultural policy and transformation (Horizon Europe, 2022–2026) project creates science-based knowledge for farmland biodiversity monitoring and conservation. Global biodiversity loss is a grand challenge addressed in the EU’s Biodiversity 2030 strategy.
MINDSET benefits from collaboration and knowledge exchange with BioMonitor4CAP when the food system and agriculture-related challenges are considered with MOI approaches. (EN), CONSERWA (EN) | Evidence-based support for transition to agroecological weed management in diverse farming systems and European regions (Horizon Europe, 2023–2027) project addresses another grand food system challenge: increasing sustainable agroecological practices while halving the usage of pesticides in the EU by 2030.
Knowledge exchange and collaboration between MINDSET and CONSERWA is valuable as both projects use multi-actor approaches, MOI-based problem solving and policy-enhancing approaches (EN)

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 99 807.50

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 64 874.87

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 65.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 64 874.87. Co-financing rate, 65.00%.

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

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Deliverables:

Mission-oriented innovation in the NPA area assessment report
Mission-oriented scenarios report
Main project application
Project management handbook
Meeting minutes
Communication media
Stakeholders Map

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2021 - 2027 Interreg VI-B Northern Periphery and Arctic

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2025-05-05

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

63 / 63 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

305 / 305 (100%)

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Mission-oriented innovation towards digital and green transitions in the NPA communities

Description

Thematic information

Partners (3)

Partners map

Summary

Investments, deliverables, policy contributions

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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