Opinion divided on core aspects of R&D ‘missions’

Public input on the design of the ‘missions’ being introduced into the EU’s next R&D Framework programme has downplayed the importance of both a multidisciplinary approach and the involvement of citizens in their selection process.

Making missions “cross-disciplinary, cross-sectoral and cross-actor” was rated as the least important of five suggested criteria for the missions, according to a report of a public survey on their design published on 17 April. Just 71 per cent of respondents said this was important, with 27 per cent saying it was not important and 2 per cent unsure.

Twenty-one per cent of people said it was not important that missions be “targeted, measurable and time-bound”, while 18 per cent said it was not important that they should “foster multiple, bottom-up solutions”. Conversely, 88 per cent of people backed the most-supported design criterion, which was that missions should be “ambitious but realistic”. Only 10 per cent of people said this was not important.