2023: A march for KEMs within innovation policy

2023 was an interesting year for the Key Enabling Methodologies, or KEMs. With the new policy period ahead, 2023 for the KEMs was all about renewing the KEM agenda and charting a long-term course through the National Strategy for Key Enabling Methodologies. The overarching goal: to position KEMs more centrally within the mission-driven policies of the coming years.

KEMs are design methods that contribute to solving societal challenges. Read more at kems.nl

A renewed KEM agenda
In June 2020, the First Research Agenda Key Methodologies (KEMs) for mission-driven innovation was launched. The purpose of this KEM agenda is to guide needed research on tools and methods that contribute to solving societal challenges.

Now, 3.5 years on, the concept of KEMs has landed and further work can be done to strengthen the contribution of KEMs to mission-driven innovation. To this end, the original research agenda was revised over the past year in consultation with the knowledge community. In the process, the agenda was not only updated in terms of content based on new developments in the field - the various categories and framing were also scrutinized. For example, new KEM categories are being added to the agenda.

The new KEM agenda will be available in February 2024.

A National KEM Strategy
In addition to the research agenda, CLICKNL started developing a National Strategy for Key Methodologies in 2023. This is because the research agenda is limited to the knowledge needs within the KEM categories. The purpose of the KEM strategy is to prioritize this. This prioritization starts from the question of what knowledge must be developed in order to deploy the key methodologies as effectively as possible for the purpose of defining, accelerating and realizing social missions and transitions. In short: what need is there and what focus belongs to it?

At the basis of this strategy lies an extensive consultation among researchers, applicators and other stakeholders of KEMs. The following events, among others, were organized for this purpose:

Both the KEM Agenda and the KEM Strategy are part of the new Knowledge and Innovation Agenda on Social Earning Capacity, which was drafted and is coordinated by CLICKNL, the knowledge and innovation network of the top sector Creative Industry

Outlook 2024

Mission-driven innovation policy enters a new round next year. There are new innovation agendas and the challenges are as great and urgent as ever. Deployment and development of KEMs remains a spearhead for CLICKNL. With a renewed agenda and strategy, in 2024 we will work on knowledge development, attention to KEMs in research calls and schemes, and the mutual exchange between researchers, applicators and other experts. We will continue to share inspiring examples and work on the right framework conditions to increase the deployment and impact of KEMs.