Head in the clouds and feet on the ground: Research priority setting in China Mats Benner1, Li Liu2,
With the tougher fiscal climate of the 1960s and 1970s and the rise of several political challenges, a new steering model emerged where political priorities invaded the decisionmakkin process more explicitly (Elzinga 1985.
Today's mechanism for priority-setting in these countries is therefore a hybrid, sometimes drawing upon scientific expertise not only in low-level decision-making but also in the framing of societal challenges underlying science policy priorities (Pielke 2007),
or challenges considered to require policy intervention. Several national S&t programs and initiatives have been created following public appeals
They stressed the need to meet the challenges of the global technology revolution and competition and pointed to the US Strategic Defense Initiatives as well as Europe's EUREKA Program.
and to solve many of China's daunting challenges, by providing techniica solutions for overcoming problems such as scarcity of resources, provision of energy,
The challenges of biotechnology',International Political science Review, 26: 169 91. Wong, J.-W. 1998)‘ The relationship between bureaucratic organizzatio and agricultural innovation:
journals. permissions@oup. com challenges are presently a major focus of research and innovaatio policies. The aim is to rejuvenate the European research area (ERA), an overt political project,
and the need for an operational agenda that takes into consideration a context-sensitive approach required to address specific challenges.
and context-sensitive approach will be required that takes into account the nature of each challenge and the industries and sectors that need to react
The challenge is for business, governments and societies to align and Orienting European innovation systems. 143 evolve into this new direction, identifying alternative solutiion and moving away from the current state of affairs.
The key challenges lie in engaging differeen voices, protecting spaces, balancing vested interests, making connections, coordinating experiments, levering investments,
At the same time, appropriate constellations of policy interventions will vary, depending on specific challenges, opportunities and problems encountered in sectors, technologies and social networks (Stirling et al. 2009).
which to examine possible solutions to specific challenges. In this way, FTA PROCESSES inform and direct the search
challenges via the adoption of forward-looking, collaborative routines and practices. This capacity-building role sees FTA PROCESSES potentially contributing to all innovation system functions by directly affecting the mind-sets and attitudes of individuals and the routines and capabilities of organisations.
and helping these to steer solutions to emerging challenges through joined-up decisions, thereby enabling the system to undertake systemic transitions and new configurations Figure 1. Some common uses of FTA.
At the same time, the Innovation Union3 Flagship Initiative recognises that the same challenges also provide powerful opportunities to develop innovative products
EIPS focus on innovations that address major societal challenges and pursue a broad concept of innovation involving all actors and regions in the innovation cycle,
business and academia to work together on major societal challenges. At the same time certain‘old'initiatives have become relevant in dealing with grand challenges.
6 are accommodattin a strong interest from industry to address major challenges. In the same vein, three PPPS were established under the European Economic Recovery Plan to help industries that were hit severely by the economic recession (Factories of the Future, Energy efficient Buildings and Green Cars.
Such a role could be accommodated in the stages of shaping a common vision for the selected theme or challenge at hand,
thereby contributing to the creation of variety in innovation systems Informing role of FTA facilitates building of a common vision for a specific theme or challenge,
and create solutions to situations or challenges at hand Knowledge development FTA, as a source of‘strategic intelligence'for policy and other actors, is itself a knowledge-creating activity.
and impacts of grand challenges as well as their possible solutions Informing role of FTA can be embedded within EU instruments in the steps of challenge/problem identificatiion prioritisation of associated themes and areas for research,
and applying a forward looking approach to situation/challenge at hand Knowledge diffusion FTA involves bringing together often disparate actors that might not normally interact to imagine
and priorities Informing role of FTA can be embedded within EU instruments in the steps of challenge/problem identificatiion
in outlook and oriented towards so-called grand societal challenges. It has argued that a reorientation of innovation systems towards grand challenges could offer opportunities for a more responsible and transformative innovation practice to develop.
when identifying grand societal challenges as well as in translating an already identified grand challenge into an operational reality by defining scenarios,
time for the EU to meet global challenges',EUR 24364 EN. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European union.<
organisational and technological innovations at the three levels of FTA systems, to make FTA fit for the challenges of the future.
Different types of contextual transformations that pose challenges for FTA systems are identified, taking into account the wider institutional setting and co-evolution of different governance modes.
Economic challenges correspoon to the agenda set out by the Aho Group (European commission 2006) and call for a combination of supply-side
Science and technology are also the basis of challenges involving the collective ability to respond to opportunities in frontier research.
The distinction between disrupptiv and recognised grand challenges referred to in the European Science Foundation report (European Science Foundation 2010) highlights the fact that areas of disruptiiv grand challenges can be exogenous
high-impact issues that challenge societal and economic health. Recognised grand challenge areas are‘grand'in the sense that they are instantly recognisable as representing a major aspect of human
address the challenge of transformation, FTA organisation and governance modes, with the aim of teasing out the main trends in how FTA is evolving in practice.
if the challenge of transformations persists. From a historical perspective the recent debates on the need to tackle transformations
and its embedding in other policies to tackle grand societal challenges, is a change in both governance and organisational models.
and allow responndin to novel challenges (see Table 3), we want to explore the direction in which FTA is likely to evolve in the future. 3. 1 Emerging developments in FTA systems This section looks at how emerging developments in FTA deal with challenges of transformative change,
by analysing recent contributions to the literature as presennte at the 2011 FTA Conference. The analysis identifies the types of transformations addressed, the governance modes in
2011) have analysed types of Table 3. Changing rationales for FTA APPROACHES on FTA systems Dimensions Transformation types and consequent challenges Governance modes Organisational models of FTA Traditional
Mission-oriented to tackle societal challenges by engineeriin radical socio-technical innovations. Emerging disruptions. Enhancing policy coordination through FTA.
and challenges can be addressed by combinations of governance contexts and appropriate organisational models of FTA. 3. 2. 2 Observation 2:
Overall, networks for the collaborative development of crosscutting challenges Coping with a fast-changing world. 161 may help reframe the‘bigger picture
systemic and structural transformation of organisations'premises and practices, with the ultimate goal of handling current and future technological, economic and societal challenges in line with the goals defined by the organisation.
when the focus extends beyond the challenges that societies face today and seeks to anticipate future challenges
internationally networked and multifunctional setups to respond to these challenges and address various needs both reactively and proactively.
particularly when the policy focus extends beyond the challenges that societies face today, to anticipate future challenges
whether or not these types of developments will be sufficient to cope with the challenges of transformative and disruptive changes.
and will thus become multilevel global challenges. Complex systems, like the global economy, entail emergent properties that can radically transform the system (e g.
thus enabling a clearer understanding of possible pathways to tackle the challenges, but this will not be enough.
In this context, it is imperative that foresight initiatives to address global challenges are carried out at regular intervals to build a common understanding of current situatiion
not only applies to the problems and challenges ahead, but also to the FTA systems that are already in place.
2011)‘ From priority-setting to societal challenges in future-oriented technology analysis',Futures, 43: 229 31. Joos, W.,Carabias, V.,Winisto rfer, H. and Stu cheli, A. 1999)‘ Social aspects of public waste management in Switzerland',Waste Management, 19: 417 25.
Nehme, C. C.,de Miranda Santos, M.,Fellows Filho, L. and Massari Coelho, G. 2012)‘ Challenges in communicating the outcomes of a foresight study to advise decision-makers on policy and strategy
and the scale of the challenges it seeks to address. Longer-term perspectives must also be incorporated to reflect the time horizons of key global challenges
and the uncertainties involved in future global governance regimes. Foresight offers a means to explore these dimensions of science.
which has explored how two decades hence international collaboration in science could foster progress in science and address global challenges.
and health issues related to global challenges, and provides advice to national governments and international organisations. In addition, a number of large discipline-based professional associations have an international membership and perspective in their work.
international science cooperation faces a spectrum of challenges and opportunities. To address these, there is a need for institutional leadership and mechanisms for planning,
There could also be challenges to the concept of self regulation in the light of demands for new forms of public accountability.
The storage and accessing of large amounts of data that could be available to international scientists is another challenge.
and articulating the challenges to be faced by international science cooperation over the coming decades. The new plan also includes commitments to engage the ICSU memberrshi in continuing foresight analysis
The most obvious challenge is limited the scope for bringing people together face-to-face on a regular basis on account of the costs involved.
Another challenge concerns accommodating some of the regional differences in perspective that undoubbtedl exist on the subject of international science cooperratio for grand challenges.
By 2031 global science (natural sciences, social sciences, engineering and humanities) has played a significant role in helping to build a more sustainable world by working with society to address the major challenges associated with sustainable development.
Responding to societal challenges is a key part of research agendas: Strategic international cooperation in science is focused clearly on themes of a global nature.
An effective approach to addressing complex global challenges arose from the nexus between fundamental and applied science.
Science successfully met the challenge of setting up more effective processes to ensure the consensus of the very best science was communicated to multiple stakeholders in a way that helps decision-making.
This fund is for collaborative international projects with a focus on global sustainability challenges. Scientific integrity helps ensure public trust:
and institutions working on different global challenges. They were made also openly available to the research communnit
Cagnin, C. and Ko nno la, T. 2011)‘ The challenge of global foresight: lessons from scenario and roadmapping process on intelligent and sustainable manufacturing systems,
The discussion aims to open a perspective on how policy development can be facilitated in a dynamic context of societal challenges and enabling technologies.
To address such co-ordination challenges we specify dimensions of transnational, vertical, horizontal and temporal co-ordination and apply them to three cases of foresight processes in connection with transnational research programming.
but also shows major challenges in foresight design and management, which we address by way of elaborating guiding foresight principles of scalability, modularity and flexibility.
Another driver for more collaboration is the increasing pressure in Europe1 and other parts of the world2 for research and innovation to both support competitiveness3 and offer solutions to global and local societal challenges.
In Section 2 we look more in detail at the challenge of coordinating transnational programming and propose a co-ordination approach to address this challenge.
Section 3 applies the approach to some empirical observations on recent cases of transnational programming.
Finally, it draws conclusions for foresight in transnational research programming. 2. Co-ordination of transnational programming The co-ordination of cross-national public research involves a set of challenges in bridging potentially Science and Public policy 39 (2012
and scientists (see Table 1). A third set of tensions relates to the multi-disciplinary and multilevel complexity of societal challenges.
T. Ko nno la and K. Haegeman 2. 2 Dimensions of co-ordination of transnational research programming The challenges of transnational research collaboration have been addressed for decades,
and followed by the identification of research/innovation topics and societal challenges. Programme design and initial funding commitments are made,
But this variety of mechanisms also constitutes an important additional co-ordination challenge as initiatives undertaken in one mechanism may have importaan links with initiatives from other mechanisms.
'The further development of transnational research and innovation collaboration is likely to benefit from conceptuua demarcation of different dimensions of the challenges.
2011) identified two challenges:.vertical co-ordination. horizontal co-ordination We elaborate on this work
Such challenges have been related to the systemic nature of innovation (Smits and Kuhlmann 2004), performmanc of innovation systems (Lundvall 1992;
In fact, the alignment of strongly differing national research systeem and vertical and horizontal co-ordination are all subject to temporal co-ordination challenges.
participatory and anticipatory co-ordination approach The complexity of the co-ordination challenge of transnatiiona research programming calls for approaches that can engage stakeholders horizontally from different policy and research areas as well as vertically and internationally from different countries and regions to support informed
In last two decades systemic challenges in research and innovation have lead to the development of systemic Embedding foresight in transnational research programming. 195 instruments for better preparedness, co-ordination and integrratio of research and innovation systems
vertical and temporal co-ordination challenges by mobilising, integrating and facilitating the different functions of programming described in Table 2. 3. Empirical observations on recent foresights in connection with transnational research programming In this section we describe three European cases of transnatiiona research programming in terms of the role foresight
plays in addressing the co-ordination challenges identified in Section 2. First, we take a brief look at the foresight processes,
-ordination challenges. As shown in Table 5, foresight activities can find different roles and forms when dealing with co-ordination challenges.
Such diversity of foresight activities indicates that it is relevant to tailor the foresight design and management style to the case-specific context and to particular requirements of the participating organisations and related stakeholders.
which foresiigh can support the four co-ordination challenges identified in Section 2. 3. 2. 1 Alignment of research systems.
and their plans for Table 5. Ways in which foresight addresses co-ordination challenges in transnational research programming Co-ordination challenge Wood Wisdom-Net EMIDA Urban Joint
T. Ko nno la and K. Haegeman different dimensions of co-ordination challenges. Against this backdrop, the design and management of foresight may benefit from some principles that support the attainmeen of the objectives of the entire programming initiative and support its legitimacy in the wider research and poliic landscape.
In this respect we have identified four challenges which are apparent in the implementation of transnational research programming and the consequent roles for foresight..
and novel process designs that can help overcome such challenges. Towards this end, the case studies in Section 3 and numerous other studies36 show evidence of the benefits of applying internet-based soluttion to obtain fast
The above-mentioned implementation challenges for transnational research programming and the respective roles of foresight activities can be seen from the viewpoints of an individual programming project, of an instrument,
All viewpoints are subject to similar types of co-ordination challenges. Against this backdrop, it is probably practical to explore how access to experts
Finally, the ways in which foresight can accommodate the four dimensions of the co-ordination challenge may offer a more systematic way for JP to address these dimensions,
In order to address this co-ordination challenge we have specified and explored four dimensions and five functions of transnational research programming.
Anticipating challenges instead of being surprised',in Europa World of Learning 2011, Vol. 1, 61st edn, pp. 14 8. London:
Chioncel, M. and Cuntz, A. 2012)‘ Research and innovation challenges and policy responses in Member States'.
Working together to tackle common challenges more effectively, 15/07/2008, SEC (2008) 2282. Brussels: European commission..(
It is observed also that the current challenges, (such as the above), facing societies are highly complex with uncertain and far-reaching implications.
which can then create a new basis for additional challenges and opportunities that most stakeholders may not have considered previously
there is also the challenge of how to address and involve many individuua contributors as well as to address a huge variety of specific communities and contributors.
Timing seems to be a general challenge with early signal analysis. Due to the novelty of issues the evidence basis at the beginning is rather weak
possible controversies and disruptions may emerge alongsiid a general frustration about the lost opportunity to be informed earlier about the potential upcoming developmennts This forms a difficult challenge for scanners who Table 2. Comparison of tools
Evaluation of scanning approaches and methods The evaluation of the different approaches and methods faces several challenges.
and approaches (see Table 3). A second challenge is that the two different approaches (exploratory scanning
and communication of the most important issues at the right time is both a challenge and an absolute necessity.
Time for the EU to meet global challenges',24364 EN, 6/2010. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European commission.
progress, visions and challenges',Nature Reviews Genetics, 9: 678 88. Sutherland, W. J.,Clout, M.,Co te,
Time for the EU to meet global challenges'which was carried out for the Bureau of European Policy Advisors.
Time for the EU to meet global challenges, 'which was carried out in 2009 by the Joint research Centre-Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (JRC-IPTS) for the Bureau of European Policy Advisors (BEPA) of the European commission (EC).
By building on the encouraging experiences of this exercise, we outline methodological steps in support of comparable scanning processes which facilitate the incremental development of crosscutting challenges
so that traceable links between these challenges and their underlying signals and sources are established. Finally, we argue that these types of scanning processes can be viewed as an instrument that prepares ground for crosscutting policy coordination
expressed as coherent and crosscutting challenges that can be 224. T. Ko nno la et al. addressed with systemic policies that span several areas of administrative responsibility.
Overall, the collaborative development of crosscutting challenges may help reframe the‘bigger picture 'whose exploration paves way for policy coordination and the attainnmen of systemic policy objectives (Schoen et al. 2011).
specificcally to make sense of them in terms of crosscutting challenges and policy implications. 3. 1 Identification of Issues BEPA and JRC-IPTS initiated the analysis in six broad areas following the structure of previous work that had been delivered to BEPA by other EC services.
and thus paved way for the formulation of crosscutting challenges. 3. 4 Synthesizing issues A two-day workshop was organized to group the identified issues into crosscutting challenges
and by develoopin their own proposals for crosscutting challenges through interesting combinations of issues that were highligghte in the RPM analysis. With the help of the RPM web-applet,
Participants then prepared proposals for crosscutting challenges that would combine at least three different issues into a comprehensive story which would elucidate how this challenge could become reality
and the challenges were required to contain issues from at least two of the six areas that were analysed.
which the workshop participants created novel interlinkagge by formulating crosscutting challenges and by envisioonin corresponding EU policies and actions in domains such as:
Table 2 provides an example of such a crosscutting challenge that synthesizes issues from different thematic areas.
The participants generated collectively a set of 22 crosscutting challenges. These were built on a number of individual crosscutting challenges developed prior to the final workshop by both JRC-IPTS
and workshop participannts such as the one presented in Table 2. These 22 crosscutting challenges were prioritized then by discussing them in the light of three solution-oriented criteria related to their importance at the EU level.
This discussion was the basis for reaching agreement on the final three overarcchin challenges at the end of the workshop.
Specifically these criteria were:.Urgency: Is the challenge likely to provoke impacts that require urgent actions at EU level?.
Tractability: Can solutions to the challenge be identified and implemented? Does the EU have the institutional capacity to act on this challenge?.
Impact: Are the actions to be taken by the EU expected to have a major global positive impact?
A reconsideration of the policy agenda of BEPA, together with a collective analysis of all issues
and crosscutting challenges, made it possible to group Table 1. Core/borderline status of selected issues in area of defence
Horizon scanning. 227 the individual crosscutting challenges proposed by workshop participants into five categories and then, on the second day of the workshop,
into 22 collectivvel developed crosscutting challenges divided in four clusters:.global governance. natural capital. society. economy.
By the end of the workshop, a workable agreement had been reached on the definition of the following three overarcchin challenges:.
All these challenges exhibit a global scope and require action at EU level through appropriately aligned crosscutttin policies that implement effective joint responses.
These challenges also served as a basis for the following three broad recommendations which, according to the workshop participants, had received not yet sufficient attention in the policy
and adapt to societal challenges by building on social diversity and information and communications technologies to enable citizens'empowerment..
and then synthesized into challenges at the EU level. The vocal satisfaction expressed by the workshop participants suggests that there is considerable potential in carrying out similar or analogous exercises based on the same methodological approach.
because this helped them to see challenges from alternative viewpoints and explore solutions that would constitute systemic responses.
In its approach, the workshop evolved from a loosely structured discussion of issues resulting from the scanning of reports to a collective sense-making process that focused on how such issues could be brought together into crosscutting challenges
and how such challenges could be explored in view of EU-level policy implications. The traceability of crosscutting challenges
and recommendaation was supported by the appropriate coding of issues and challenges that were generated during the exercise.
particularly when describing grand challenges that have to be addressed through European policy-making. 4. Implications for horizon scanning The recent proliferation of horizonscanning activities is linked partly to the popularity of the‘wisdom of the Table 2. Example of a crosscutting challenge consisting of issues from all three analyses
Furthermore, the clusters (akin to the‘crosscutting challenges 'which combined issues from at least two areas in the case study) may have to be described at a more abstract
Rather, the scope of these activities can be extended to include creative and collective sense-making processes for synthesizing observations into crosscutting challenges
and also for exploring the policy implications of these challenges in collaborative workshoops From this perspective,
Time for the EU to meet global challenges'which has informed the strategy processes of BEPA and JRC, has influenced also other stakeholders,
Time for the EU to meet global challenges',24364 EN, 6/2010. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European commission.
Ko nno la, T.,Scapolo, F.,Desruelle, P. and Mu, R. 2011)‘ Foresight tackling societal challenges:
From global challenges to dedicated, technological, collaborative research projects Kerstin Cuhls1,,*Alexander Bunkowski2 and Lothar Behlau2 1fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation research, Breslauer Straße 48,76139 Karlsruhe,
We discuss how this mission was incorporated into a Fraunhofer corporate programme that takes on global challenges by stimulating collaborative research projects across knowledge domains.
In this paper, we address the question of global challenges, their definition, why and how Fraunhofer can best direct its overarching research topics towards solutions for some of the global challenges.
Keywords: foresight; future markets; grand challenges; global challenges; megatrends; societal demand. 1. Introduction: The idea The Lund Declaration (Lund Declaration 2009) formulated a request that European research should focus on the grand challenges of our time, moving beyond current rigid thematic approaches.
This enhanced the existing discussion about challenges and needs-oriented approaches versus a science and technology push.
cities and organisattions Even the New framework Programme‘Horizon 2020'will stress programmes that are based on‘social challenges'(European commission 2011:
5ff) and will dedicate a significant amount of money to these challenges. The Fraunhofer Society is Europe's largest contract research organisation
What are the global challenges and questions of the future? In this paper, we therefore address the question of global challenges, their definition,
why Fraunhofer undertakes such an endeavour and how Fraunhofer can best direct its strategic research towards solutions for some of the global challenges. 2. Framework:
Some definitions of global challenges Global challenges, or‘grand challenges'as they are called often, are discussed at nearly every conference or workshop.
But when a definition is called for, it is still unclear what different people are talking about and
what we should‘address'as a global challenge (see Lund Declaration 2009; EU 2011 or the different definitions given during the presentations at the Innovation Convention, held 5 6 december 2011 in Brussels). Some institutions and companies have lists of megatrends and regard them as global challenges.
Some go even further and try to identify what is lying ahead without looking into the past.
Global challenges therefore represent different strands of issues (authors'own observation:.Some selected trends or‘megatrends'that are observed in a global context..
All definitions have in common that the global challenges need answers and solutions and that they will have a huge impact
All global challenges are valid for a longer term (more than 20 years, some even say more than 50 years).
Some global challenges have multiple dimensions, so that:..the current government systems are incapable of tackling current and future global interconnected challenges.
Boden et al. 2010: 24) The challenges to developing countries are also becoming global. Different publications or internal papers can be discusssed
in order to give some examples of these different views of global challenges that were starting points for the Fraunhofer considerations. 2. 1. 1 First example.
In parallel with the Lund Declaration (2009), the European commission published some brochures about the‘challenges'.'One is‘The World in 2025'(EU Commission 2009),
which argues about trends, tensions and major transitions. Here the (mega-)trends and the global problems are derived from the‘tensions'described in this approach.
'towards a new‘socio-ecological production model'(here it is assumed that the ecological and demographic challenges will be tapped/harnessed to invent a new development model.
The State of the Future reports of the UN Millennium Project can be regarded as another source for‘megatrends'and long-lasting challenges for the future.
and multicultural for early alert and analysis of long-range issues, opportunities, challenges and strategies. The information generated is made available through a variety of media for consideration in policy-making, advanced training
These reports served as a basis for the challenges for the Fraunhofer Society (see below.
The challenges pointed out in the State of the Future reports are based on the UN Millennium Challenges and Goals Project (2005.
and are therefore still challenges. Others are rather new developments. All the problems and challenges identified here are those that can somehow be dealt with by the means human beings have at their disposal.
They are not dealing with sudden events or‘wild cards'(in the sense of Steinmu ller and Steinmu ller 2004;
The State of the Future reports that are published every year take stock of these permanent challenges and report on the developments:
or is there stagnation in addressing the challenges? To the best knowledge of the present authors, the State of the Future report is the most comprehensive
and scientifically accepted description and monitoring of the large challenges that have global impacts (global
The Fraunhofer Society (see below) came up with its own list of challenges. These were derived from what was regarded as peoples'‘needs
There was no longstanding process to formulate these types of megatrends or challenges. The Fraunhofer list (internal paper) of 2006 included:
In their argumentation, they are referred also to as large or‘global challenges'although, of course, they are set in the context of Germany.
climate/energy. health/nutrition. mobility. security. communication Interestingly, there seems to be a considerable level of consensus on the upcoming challenges.
But why did the Fraunhofer Society define‘its'global challenges? How does one of the largest research organisations in Europe reorient itself towards these challenges?
For this, we need first of all to look at the Fraunhofer Society itself. 3. The Fraunhofer approach 3. 1 Strategic R&d planning within the Fraunhofer governance model Future-oriented technology analysis (FTA APPROACHES have been used within corporate strategic R&d planning at Fraunhofer for several years.
and targets of UN Millennium Challenges Goal 1 Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty Target 1 Halve between 1990 and 2015,
Therefore, with intelligent cooperation, global challenges can be addressed and, for Fraunhofer, an add-on can be identified by directing these cooperations towards something that is supposed to deliver early results.
The global challenges that could be addressed by Fraunhofer institutes in general were identified and projects to actively promote solution-finding were called for.
which global societal challenges were analysed and adapted to Fraunhofer-specific challenges. The specific challenges served as a framework for the second
bottom-up, part of the process. Within a competitive call, institutes teamed up to develop technological solutions to the challenges in the form of collaborative project proposals.
The most convincing projects were funded internally. 4. 2 Deriving Fraunhofer-specific challenges from global challenges The 2009 State of the Future report of the UN Millennium Project was chosen (Glenn et al. 2009) as a starting point for deriving the Fraunhofer
challenges (see Fig. 2). The comprehensive, reliable, and widely accepted metastudy Figure 1. Fraunhofer future processes.
Fraunhofer future markets. 237 defined 15 global challenges. Each of the State of the Future challenges was discussed in great detail by a team in the Fraunhofer Society
because not all of them could be the basis for research undertaken by the Fraunhofer Society.
The team selecting the grand challenges consisted of members from the headquarters in Munich and from the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation research in Karlsruhe.
In this first part of the process, mainly politically driven proposed actions as well as technological approaches to solutions of the challenges were identified from the State of the Future report,
It has an in depth description of challenges (more than 5 000 pages), a description of technological solution approaches and an annual adaptation of content.
1) Selecting suitable global challenges and breaking them down into suitable subchallenges and their associated drivers (see Figs 3 6:
Only challenges where technological solutions were applicable (e g. How can growing energy demand be met safely and efficiently?
The chosen challenges were broken down into subchallenges and their drivers according to the report. 2) Extracting and evaluating technological solution approaches for each subchallenge (see Figs 3, 4 and 6:
in a series of workshops, the generalist team, together with additional Fraunhofer experts, drafted a long list of Fraunhofer challenges by combining the subchallenges of step 1
With this input, the generalist team formulated the final list of Fraunhofer challenges (see Figs 5 and 6). To summarise the process (see Fig. 6),
Find the right challenges for Fraunhofer: look at global challenges and ask which of them are crucial Figure 2. Challenges featured in the State of the Future report. 238.
K. Cuhls et al. Figure 4. Example of identification of subchallenges and drivers. Figure 3. Assessment of grand challenges according to a set of Fraunhofer criteria.
Fraunhofer future markets. 239 Figure 5. Example of assessment for subchallenges and technological approaches. Figure 6. Overview of entire process. 240.
This is necessary for acceptance. 4. 3 Dedicated projects to tackle the challenges The Fraunhofer challenges served as a framework for an internal competitive call.
A programme was defined in which institute consortia consisting of at least four institutes could propose collaborative projects to tackle the challenges.
They had to explain their understanding of the challenge and which aspect of the challenge their project would provide a solution for.
The anticipated impact of the project on the challenge had to be quantified as well as the market potential for Fraunhofer that would be opened up through the project.
A jury consisting of senior Fraunhofer experts and external experts evaluated the proposals. The most convincing proposals received substantial funding for three years.
Challenges and projects 5. 1 Five Fraunhofer challenges Out of the 15 global challenges in the report,
The long list had 20 potential Fraunhofer challenges from which the five Fraunhofer challenges were generated:.
E5 million in funding for each challenge within the Future markets programme are to be spent (starting in 2011.
impact of the results on the challenge. market potential for Fraunhofer Society At least four different institutes need to be involved in each project.
The jury selected five convincing projects addressing three Fraunhofer challenges:.Energy: low-loss generation, distribution,
To date, none of these research organisations has tried to orient itself towards global challenges. Therefore, the Fraunhofer experiment is unique among independent research institutions. 6. 2 Impact of the Fraunhofer future-oriented process The FTA PROCESS described in this paper produced dedicated research projects
protection from consequences Increasing conflicts within states Global governance will be sought Table 3. Proposals and teams Round 1 Challenge Project ideas Selected projects Teams involved
Sum 25 5 137 Table 4. Second Round Round 2 Challenge Project ideas Selected Projects Teams involved Mobility 6 tbd
K. Cuhls et al. technological solutions for Fraunhofer-specific challenges. For the first time, Fraunhofer used a topical framework for an internal funding programme.
Nevertheless, all the projects are expected to address a small part of a global challenge and to try to contribute to solving the problems.
and outlook Using global challenges as a starting point for an internal FTA PROCESS within the corporate strategic R&d planning was a new approach for Fraunhofer.
The combination of the top-down derivation of the specific challenges with the bottom-up generation of the specific technological solutions met this requirement well.
Definition and detailed clarification of what is regarded as a global challenge: as the international definitions vary to a large extent,
each organiser of a process has to define for himself what has to be addressed under the heading of global challenge.
and the‘three'variations of global challenges mentioned in Section 2 of this paper..Granularity of the specific challenges:
the five challenges serving as a framework for the call had a very broad scope.
This was because many stakeholders with different interests participated in deriving the challenges. In the end, they agreed on a broad compromise.
The formulation of this compromise was therefore rather conservative and similar to the grand challenges of other institutions (see also Section 1 of this paper.
However, more specific challenges would have helped to compare the proposed technological solutions..Impact-orientation: a goal of the competitive call was to find the most convincing collaborative solution Fraunhofer could provide for the specific challenge.
Institute consortia were required to quantify the impact of the anticipated results of the projects. The careful analysis and illustration of the impact was indeed a hurdle for the proposal writer:
but guided by the challenges that are lying ahead applies not only apply to Fraunhofer but also to many other organisations.
Time for the EU to meet global challenges'.'Sevilla: JRC Scientific and Technical Reports, EUR 24364 EN, European commission Report.
UN Millennium Challenges. 2005), See<http://www. millennium-project. org/millennium/challenges. html>accessed 19 july 2011.244.
K. Cuhls et al
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