New governance structures for the whole of government approach : mutual learning exercise on the whole-of-government approach : fifth thematic report

This thematic report presents observations on the governance of R&I policies when applying a whole of government Approach (WGA). It finds that governance structures can take very different forms, depending on the historical and institutional context of the administrative systems in question. As a general trend, national R&I strategies are increasingly (though not overwhelmingly) designed following a WGA, sometimes going beyond that in involving a comprehensive consultation of academic, business and civil society stakeholders in addition to different government entities ('Whole-of-Society Approaches WSA). Recently, the (re)emergence of Mission-oriented R&I policies, particularly the type of 'transformative missions' addressing grand societal challenges are increasing the demand for WGA or even WSA further. Forms of Governance employed in a number of countries include whole of government frameworks (quite often in the form of strategies), inter-ministerial bodies (ranging from advisory councils to decision-making bodies) and specialised agencies (often established to facilitate cross-departmental collaboration and integration of policies). Apart from the countries participating in this MLE, also evidence from the OECD, the TRAMI project as well as from the concurrent MLE on Missions was included. This evidence showed the diversity of approaches towards a WGA, but was also able to identify some success factors for WGA: high-level political support and commitment, institutional stability shielding from political volatility and a change in administrative culture, processes and incentives, pointing to the fact that governance structures are a necessary, but not sufficient part of WGA. In fact, changes of governance structures need to be accompanied by changes in administrative culture and behaviour.