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Missions València 2030: a mission-oriented R&I governance model to improve people’s lives

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Spain

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Central & local administrationGovernanceHealthcare and long-term careInnovativeResearch, innovation and digital economySME and competition policyWelfare system

Organisation name Valencia City Hall

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Contact person: Fermin Cerezo Peco

fcerezo@valencia.es

The Missions València 2030 project addresses the main weaknesses that the EU identified in the R&I policies delivered up until 2020. More specifically, there is a large gap between humanity’s great challenges (2030 SDGs) and the R&I projects; European citizens do not feel that R&I has improved their lives. The new Horizon Europe 2021–2027 recommends the optimisation of the impact of innovation by mixing sectors, activities and technologies; to boost experiments for missions coming from bottom-up solutions through different pathways; and to allow these missions to be the result of an open civic engagement process, owned by the society.

In this European context and background on R&I, at the beginning of 2019 the València government decided to embark on a path still unexplored by cities, towards a mission-oriented innovation that ‘builds a better Europe for citizens’: the so-called Missions València 2030 project. It is a new solution in innovation policymaking aimed to address the high priority challenges not only for the near future, but also for the present.

Later, strengthened by the effects of the Covid-19 crisis, it was assumed that R&I is the solution to improve the resilience of the city. Missions València 2030 was then linked to the Urban Strategy 2030 and reconstruction strategy, so that all the resources of the city were focused in the same direction.

The project aims to be:

  • a mission-oriented innovation governance model to fix deficiencies and to steer innovation, with a direct impact on improving people’s lives;
  • a guide for the work of València’s innovative ecosystem;
  • a test-bed city for a global innovation experiment, anticipating the mission-oriented proposals of the EU to build a better Europe for citizens;
  • a civic and social engagement base on four pillars (a healthy, sustainable, shared and entrepreneurial city), to make people aware of the value of R&I and its impact on their lives;

a new model of mission-oriented innovation for European cities that allows any sector, activity, technology or source of knowledge to propose and develop R&I projects aimed at the success of bottom-up missions.

The Missions València 2030 project achieved broad political consensus, and this will ensure it will be a decade-long project, at least.

This consensus made possible:

  • the launching and the evolution of the initiative;
  • the support of the whole ecosystem;
  • the right cohesion between the different technical departments of the city council;
  • the cross sectorial political collaboration between national, regional and local levels to push the initiative.

Furthermore, Missions València 2030 is aligned with the local, regional, national, European and global political strategies. It is transferring to València municipality the medium and long-term objectives of the SDGs, the Urban Strategy for 2030, the European reconstruction plan and the national innovation strategy.

The success of the project was possible not only thanks to its own resources, but also to the commitment and resources of the four parts of the innovation ecosystem (public sector, private sector, universities and civil society).

The city council has the commitment to invest, yearly, about €5 million in the innovation department of the municipality, about 5 million in PPI for missions-oriented projects and about €3 million for each mission. Furthermore, there is the investment that the whole innovation ecosystem will leverage to achieve the same goals.

València is also involved with the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, working around the Climate City Contract and the requirements to be one of the 100 climate-neutral cities by 2030. In the case of positive results, the city would receive more resources.

Finally, the project is also sustainable from a social point of view. The involvement of the civil society allows an open process for the selection of missions, which are consequently of key interest for citizens.

All forecasts suggest that 85% of the EU population will live in cities by 2050. Therefore, cities are a key element in the systemic transformation processes needed to solve the great challenges of our time. They are the key to building a better Europe for its citizens.

A mission-oriented R&I policy only makes sense if it is implemented and demonstrated in the real environment of cities, as already explained by the Director General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission, Jean-Eric Paquet, and by the Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Mariya Gabriel.

València has anticipated the R&I guidelines of Horizon Europe with an holistic approach, framed within the 2030 SDGs. The keys to the success of the missions are:

  • transversal governance in public policies;
  • social communication and accountability;
  • the involvement of civil society;
  • the 2030 Agenda and the R&I Missions complementing themselves in the transformational effort.

València is already involved in Spanish and European networks leading the mission-oriented R&I transfer processes to other cities. At national and regional level it collaborates with the 72 cities belonging to the INNPULSO network of the Ministry of Science and Innovation, and at European level with iKEIN, the Mission-Oriented Innovation Network (MOIN), Eurocities, Green Cities and Energy Cities.

For the success of its mission-oriented R&I public policies, the EU needs the commitment of cities to share the lessons learnt, which serve as a reference for other European cities. València has created the necessary toolbox to transfer its results, knowledge and good practices to other European cities.

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