UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose (IIPP)

📱IIPP MPA Candidate Kassim Vera worked as a Policy Advisor for the Mexican Senate, working with Senator Ruth Lopez to improve digital services in Mexico, creating a safer and more responsive environment. ✍️Read about his work in his IIPP student blog: https://lnkd.in/eaNnQruE

🇪🇺Europe is on the verge of allocating billions to AI industrial policy. IIPP's Dr. Cecilia Rikap & Francesca Bria contributed to the latest report by the AI Now Institute which sets out to provide EU policymakers with policy research, perspectives, and evidence about the challenges of expanding public investment in a highly concentrated global AI market. As Europe ponders pouring billions of public funds into AI, this collection attempts to reorient the EU’s industrial policy away from its current trajectory of further entrenching big tech's dominance in the market––and outlines alternative pathways forward. 🔗Read the report here: https://lnkd.in/eh5cFdHW

🌍How does #DPI look around the world? IIPP's global #DPIMap offers a first global investigation of deployments of digital identity, digital payment and data exchange systems, providing insights into the state of DPI across 210 countries. 🔗See the map here: https://dpimap.org

Just came back from the two-day OECD - OCDE conference "Mission Forward: Forging new frontiers in mission-oriented innovation policies" hosted in Vienna by the Austrian Ministry of Education. With 100 public managers representing +40 missions from +20 countries, it was a timely opportunity to gauge where practice stands 10 years after Mariana Mazzucato's "The Entrepreneurial State" and 5 years after Philippe Larrue and colleagues' mapping of the field. Below, I share a few personal views on where it stands. 🟢 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿. The field is now ripe with promising mission case studies that demonstrate steady, serious efforts at institutional innovation. Peer learning will become more and more crucial in accelerating and embedding them. In this sense, Vienna was a good beginning. 🟢 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿. Policymakers start seeing the pattern: regardless of context, their implementation challenges are similar (skills, culture, tools, structures, politics). In a few words: no chance of transformative innovation without a parallel transformation in governance. 🟡 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗶𝘀. Because missions are wildly diverse, each has with distinctive strengths and weaknesses. Despite the progress (thanks OECD!), there is still ample room to sharpen the vocabulary, toolkit, and narrative we use when learning how to get the mission work done. 🟡 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲-𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘂𝗲. Despite several good efforts in this direction, there remains a rift between the many stories worthy of proper analysis and scholars' ability to seize them. The persistence of intellectual tribes in innovation policy does not help. 🔴 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗹𝗲. For many reasons, missions are rarely institutionalized. The mission discourse is thus entrenched among a small and globally dispersed niche, but their practice is still not in most organizations. This leaves them exposed to political turbulences. Overall, some challenges, but plenty of progress and hope! This post wouldn't be complete without a thank you to Philippe, Charles and Fabian. Grateful for their community-building efforts, as well as allowing me and Barbara to represent Early Career Researchers on the stage. Interested in what a mission looks like? Their recently updated MOIP Online Toolkit is a key starting point. Which to pick? Here's a few tips: [AT] Transformative Missions – Susanne [BZ] Structuring Programmes – Caetano [DK] Green Innomissions – Anette & Carina [FR] Acceleration Strategies – Mathieu & Anne-Laure [NL] Mission-driven Top Sectors – Marjolein [IR] National Challenge Fund – Stephen & Maysoun [SE] Impact Innovation programme – Joanna [UK] Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund – Mike

❗️Applications are now open for our 2025/26 MPA in Innovation, Public Policy & Public Value. Do you want to join our mission to change how the state is imagined, practiced and evaluated to tackle societal challenges? In 2025-26 we are introducing new pathways for our Master of Public Administration: 1️⃣Public Administration pathway: Offers an opportunity to specialise in how governments can increase public sector capabilities to tackle the main challenges faced by societies. 2️⃣Economic Policy and Political Economy pathway: Explores the relationship between states and markets, and the economic challenges facing modern capitalist economies. 3️⃣Digital Transformation pathway: Will develop your critical digital era skills in the public sector. 🔗Learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/eTA3-Wn5

💧"We are pushing the global water cycle out of balance" The recent Global Commission on the Economics of Water report, co-authored by IIPP's Director Mariana Mazzucato, calls for better resource management, and a rethinking of water as a common good. ✍️Read Laura Paddison's recent article for CNN: https://lnkd.in/d5K8hqSm

⚠️"The global water crisis is at risk of intensifying". At #COP16Colombia, IIPP's Director Mariana Mazzucato launched the final report by Global Commission on the Economics of Water alongside Dr Musonda Mumba and Martha Rojas Urrego, urging governments to act on the global water crisis and protect the world’s biodiversity and ecosystems. 🔗Read more here: https://lnkd.in/dwmFHXYA

🇧🇧The third phase of our Applied Learning programme with the Government of Barbados kicked off today with opening remarks from IIPP Director Mariana Mazzucato & Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley. 🎤Throughout the week, IIPP Director Mariana Mazzucato, Co-Deputy Director David Eaves & Visiting Professor of Practice Mike Bracken will deliver sessions on designing missions, strategic procurement & digital capabilities. 🔗Learn more about our Applied Learning Programme here: https://lnkd.in/eswmGc9e 

🎤"We must change how we produce and consume across the economy". At the recent IMF-World Bank Annual Meetings, global commissions led by IIPP Director Mariana Mazzucato launched two significant reports on biodiversity, climate, and water crises. ✍️Read more here: https://lnkd.in/ef8TfyGh

🌱Reliance on private finance is not enough to deliver conservation goals. IIPP's Katie Kedward & Josh Ryan-Collins, together with Sophus zu Ermgassen & Sven Wunder warn of the dangers of relying too heavily on large-scale private finance. 🔗Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eHHRJfmN