Mission-Oriented Innovation Policy for Sustainable Development: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This paper aims to explore effective ways to incorporate a mission-orientated framework to innovation policies that are designed to achieve the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper aims to identify the strategies of MOIP to inform innovation and sustainability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, particularly focusing on the Gulf Corporation Council (GCC) context. It does so through a systematic literature review of current studies related to MOIP, according to the PRISMA protocol, regarding countries in the GCC region that are currently undergoing ambitious national strategic development plans with sustainability and inclusive growth at their core. This particularly targets SDG 9, which is about fostering innovation that is inclusive and sustainable. Implications for this study may inform innovation policy in the GCC and even inspire the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in terms of innovation metrics, energy transitions, the innovation ecosystem, public participation, and policy implementation and evaluation. Based on the systematic review and current innovation ecosystems and practices in the GCC, recommendations and strategic options are outlined.

How Can We Design Policy Better? Frameworks and Approaches for Sustainability Transitions

“…In a similar vein, the SDGs provide a blueprint or roadmap for directing transitions of STSs to more sustainable outcomes. Exemplar cases include the study of SDG 9 goal of fostering innovation ecosystems to enable sustainability and inclusive growth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region [12], and the monitoring of progress towards SDG 4 targets to determine how the education system manages to provide inclusive, equitable and effective pedagogy [13].…”

Strategic Transition to Sustainability: A Cybernetic Model

“…The organisation's clearly defined development guidelines form the basis for its operations. If the organisation's development is oriented towards sustainability, we assume that the organisation's operations will also be sustainable [4][5][6][7].…”

“…In this paper, we look for evidence of the interdependence between the sustainability of the organisation [1] and the interests of its owners/governors as expressed in its vision and business policy (e.g., mission statement) [4,7]. We suggest that if the values of these key individuals are aligned with sustainability, and if they recognise that caring for the natural environment and society is indeed as important as caring for the business profit [3], we as a human race can take a major step towards a better future for the generations to come.…”

“…The sustainable development strategy should not be separate from the organisation's other strategies but integrated into them [9]. In this way, the organisation's resources and operations will also be oriented towards sustainability, i.e., they will be responsible [1,4,10]. Such a normative approach must be adopted constructively and critically to achieve organisational agility [11].…”

“…Such a normative approach must be adopted constructively and critically to achieve organisational agility [11]. Organisations therefore need to consider a shift in their core values to align with the principles of sustainable development [3,5,8], and they need to recognise the interdependence between their level of sustainability and the governance and management decision-making processes [4,7,11]. In this paper, we explore these issues in a particular type of organisation, usually not-for-profit and often state-owned, namely, higher education institutions.…”