Navigating missions: experiences from a long-term R&I programme to transform the building sector in Austria

Abstract Mission-oriented innovation policies are increasingly recognized as an effective strategy for initiating and guiding far-reaching transition processes towards sustainability. In this article, we examine a successful early example of a national mission-oriented research and innovation (R&I) programme (Building of Tomorrow) that has had a significant impact on the building sector in Austria. The objective is to identify the factors and dynamics that contributed to the programme’s success and helped maintain its momentum over a period of more than 20 years. By successively integrating different groups of researchers and practitioners, organizing programme development as an adaptive process of co-production, and regularly ‘reinventing itself’ by shifting focus and guiding ideas, the programme sustained its mission momentum. Several insights from this case study can provide valuable guidance for organizing mission-oriented programmes, particularly by avoiding an exclusive emphasis on ‘mission orientation by design’ at the expense of processes of sense-making, emergence, and reinvention.