Science Summit at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA78)

This panel will discuss the potential to apply a Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy (MOIP) framework to contribute to the agenda of promoting sustainable development of the Amazon region while curbing deforestation from a perspective of funding R&D. Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy has been adopted, at different levels of government, as a valuable tool to direct STI Policies to address societal challenges. Although there is potential for this approach, a number of challenges remain.

MOIP consists of a package of policy instruments tailored to mobilise science, technology and innovation to address a concrete and ambitious objective related to a societal challenge within a defined timeframe. Fundamentally, it involves cross-sectoral coordination and a combination of policy tools as it spans across several stages of the research and development process.

The context in the Amazon provides precisely the kind of grand societal challenge that MOIP aims to address. The fundamental task of conciliating the promotion of economic development with the conservation of the Amazon rainforest and its vast biological and cultural diversity can be disaggregated in a number of societal challenges; and those in missions. From enhanced instruments to monitor and prevent deforestation to market-shaping development of novel bio-economy-based production chains, there is a wide range of possible missions.