24: Ideation, discourses, and the design and framing of mission-oriented innovation policies (Liu Shi, Daimer Stephanie, Jakob Edler, Karoline Rogge, Linda Widdel, Florian Kern, Matthew Lockwood)
The design and framing of mission-oriented innovation policies (MOIPs) to tackle "grand challenges" and facilitate transformative change (Haddad, Nakić, Bergek, & Hellsmark, 2022) goes beyond a technocratic issue, and is in essence a politically con-tested process affected by a flux of institutional, cultural, cognitive and material factors (Larrue, 2021; Mazzucato, 2018; Wittmann, Hufnagl, Lindner, Roth, & Edler, 2021). Because of the complexity of problems, ambiguity of knowledge frontiers and a diversity of actors, interests and values involved, the ideational aspect of MOIP and its governance should not be underrated (Flink & Kaldewey, 2018; Laranja, Uyarra, & Flanagan, 2008; Phillips & Castle, 2022). Ideas are understood broadly as both causal beliefs about the role of MOIP in system change and instrumental strategies deployed for influencing policy making and governance (Swinkels, 2020). Despite a growing body of literature studying politics and discourses of transformations (Geels, 2013; Genus, 2016; Kern, 2011), the workings and conditions of ideas and discourses in MOIPs have not been studied explicitly and systematically. By contrast, the role of ideas in politics and public policy in general, and how ideas and discourses drive policy change, is extensively researched in political science literature (Baumgartner, 2013; Béland, 2009; Blyth, 2002; Campbell, 2002; Camp-bell & Pedersen, 2015; Weible, 2023). While its potential in understanding transformations is explored by some pioneering efforts (Kern & Rogge, 2018), the ideational and discursive approach in policy science theories has not fully engaged in the design and governance of MOIPs which are multiple-level and complex in nature.
In this track, we are motivated by the need for cross-fertilization between ideational and discursive approach in political science literature and MOIPs studies in its broad sense to better grasp the mechanisms and conditions that shape the design and framing of MOIPs. Specifically, we invite conceptual, theoretical, and empirical submissions that focus on the role of ideation and discourses, and various contextual factors in interplay with them underlying the process and result of policy framing and design. Empirical works with a comparative perspective across countries are encouraged. Exemplary questions include but are not limited to:
• How "ideas" can be conceptualized in the governance of MOIPs? How do ideas and discourses differ between MOIPs and broader policy mix approaches on mission-oriented policies for innovation?
• What kinds/types of ideas and discourses emerge at different stages and different levels of policy framing? What contributes to this configuration and its change overtime?
• What is the relation between ideas and other factors that shape policy design, for example, institutions and interests?
• How is ideation institutionalized in the framing of missions and design of MOIPs?
• Regarding the working of ideas and discourses, how do actors interact with the political systems they are embedded in?
• What is the role of economic, institutional, and cultural context in the ideation - policy design linkage?
• How do the abovementioned aspects differ across countries, and why? Do they exhibit strong national characteristics; if so, what is the implication for the design of missions and MOIP governance?
Keywords: mission-oriented innovation policies, ideas, discourses, policy design and framing, transformative change