An agenda for the future: Innovation for transformation

Innovative capacity is essential to economic and technological competitiveness, and to solving the major problems we face as a society. Innovations developed under favorable conditions are the fundamental driver of transformative change targeting a societally and ecologically sustainable economic and social order. Drawing on the variety of good strategies and policies identified by our global research, we present actionable recommendations in formulating a modern innovation policy.

The results of this study are published as a results paper within the framework of the Reinhard Mohn Prize 2020 project , “Fostering Innovation. Unlocking potential.” This Bertelsmann Stiftung project is tasked with identifying promising mechanisms, institutions and strategies that could be applied to efforts advancing innovative capacity in Germany and Europe. The twofold aim of such efforts is to ensure, for one, that we remain technologically – and thus economically – competitive. But just as important is the need to address societal challenges while ensuring humane, democratic and inclusive economic development.

With this vision in mind, the Bertelsmann Stiftung conducted an extensive international good-practice research study and, in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, bundled the findings into four so-called results papers in the “Innovation for Transformation” series. They address issues such as

• Good practices in mission-oriented innovation strategies and their implementation,
• Networking and exchange in mission-oriented innovation processes,
• Addressing societal challenges through disruptive technologies and
• Fostering innovative startups in pre-seed phase.

This final publication in the series, An agenda for the future: Innovation for Transformation, presents a summary of the results papers’ overarching conclusions.