Lesson Overview

Challenges in the 21st century are complex and cannot be tackled with the orthodox approach to innovation. Policymakers need to adopt new ways of looking at the issues as connected and relational. Mission-oriented innovation puts a set of targets as a clear, shared direction toward which multiple actions and projects work as systems. This approach seeks to create a platform strategy to explore the interconnected issues in public by engaging with stakeholders and prototyping. Sweden is a great example of mission design in practice. Using a holistic, upstream approach to reduce healthcare costs, Sweden set out to make all streets safe, a mission which the value model underneath links to improving health, social fabric, biodiversity, and other issues through an existing system. Participative design involved multitudes of stakeholders and participants, from business and regional government to prime minister and even schoolchildren. Their sketch inputs were then translated to real-world prototypes that successfully increased activities on the streets.

Session by Dan Hill, Director of Melbourne School of Design

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