Orientation, Strategy, Smart Specialization, Missions & Directionality - five reflections on the normative turn in innovation policy

This cumulative dissertation explores strategic policymaking in research and innovation policy with a focus on mission-oriented approaches. Against the backdrop of growing expectations for innovation policy to address grand societal challenges such as climate change and demographic shifts, it examines issues of directionality, coordination, and strategic capacity. The dissertation consists of five articles: First, it critically revisits the innovation systems paradigm in the context of challenge-oriented policymaking. Second, it presents a comparative analysis of national innovation strategies in Germany, the United Kingdom, and Sweden. Third, it explores smart specilization strategies in a cross border region. Fourth, it develops a new typology of mission-oriented innovation policies, highlighting different governance logics. Fifth, it introduces a conceptual framework that conceptualizes missions as multi-stage translation processes, thereby capturing the complexity of their formulation and implementation. The dissertation contributes both to advancing the theoretical foundations of innovation policy studies and to providing practical guidance for the design and implementation of mission-oriented strategies.