Charles McIvor

Europe's Innovation Agencies Need Radical Reform To Meet Today's Grand Challenges Innovation agencies in the EU are no longer fit for purpose. A major overhaul of both the concept of innovation and of institutional structures is urgent.

Europe’s innovation agencies are stuck in old habits — grant-giving, compliance, and rigid oversight — when the world needs institutions that **learn, adapt, and lead**.

Full article 👉 www.socialeurope.eu/europes-inno...

I keep saying I think you could see a comeback of VHS because of its time-bound nature compared to Netflix. Parents want their kids to watch TV and movies but not without limits

The Neurotech Inflection Point 7 Patterns Reshaping Brain-Computer Interfaces

The Neurotech Inflection Point
open.substack.com/pub/nitafara...

🚀 From Canada to the @oecd-ocde.bsky.social in Paris, Innovation, Public Policy and Public Value MPA graduate @charlesemcivor.bsky.social is using systems thinking to shape global innovation policy.

🔗 Learn more about his story and career journey: buff.ly/PCvnvVS

@thebartlettucl.bsky.social

Do you want to work at the OECD on mission-oriented policies? Check out this new job posting on my (very nice and smart) team:

www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/42...

Innovation in the News | Charles McIvor | Substack Innovation in the News is a daily newsletter to help policymakers (and those interested in policy) stay in the know on the latest economics, science, technology and innovation policy news. Click to re...

Is this the kind of content that interests you? I do a daily newsletter (although weekly throughout the summer) on innovation policy news and research that you can find here
innovationinthenews.substack.com

The Techno-Industrial Policy Playbook Policies for kickstarting America’s techno-industrial renaissance

7. The Techno-Industrial Policy Playbook — includes policy briefs on over two dozen issues from @ifp.bsky.social
www.rebuilding.tech

6. Innovations in Innovation Policy - Bringing together experts from across STI and policy making, this book presents thought leadership pieces that addresses what the future of innovation policy looks like @jen-nelles.bsky.social @timvorley.bsky.social
www.elgaronline.com/edcollbook-o...

Ten physical realities the energy transition must tackle McKinsey Global Institute research examines the physical transformation required for the energy transition.

5. Ten physical realities the energy transition must tackle from McKinsey
www.mckinsey.com/mgi/our-rese...

Brain Drain 🇨🇦 Yes, it's a problem

4. Brain Drain CA - A data-focused blog on Canada’s brain drain
achintyac.substack.com/p/brain-drain

3. What the UK should learn from Bidenomics - A paper based on interviews with senior US economic policy makers inside and outside of the Biden administration
www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcb...

How to Fix a Department's Funding Tools "This should be a tool in our toolbox — it currently does not exist"

2. How to Fix a Government Department’s Funding Tools - An interview with Narayan Subramanian, former Biden administration advisor to the Secretary at the DOE and Director for Energy Transition at the White House National Security Council @santiru.bsky.social
www.statecraft.pub/p/how-to-fun...

1. Unbundling the University - An essay from @benjaminreinhardt.com attempting to synthesize the current zeitgeist around universities, our research ecosystem, and technological stagnation
www.unbundle-the-university.com

Are you looking for a summer reading list on innovation policy? Here are seven interesting pieces from 2025 that I thought were particularly interesting

Ottolenghi Lemon Blueberry Cake A great cake for spring & news about a Live chat with Yotam Ottolenghi!

Lovely! I made this blueberry lemon cake yesterday
davidlebovitz.substack.com/p/ottolenghi...

Yes. He was really good live

Innovation in the news July 11, 2025 Today’s top stories

Unsure what gigs you're looking for and where but you may find these two newsletters helpful
PolicyJobsTO | Springboard Policy | Substack
PolicyJobsOTT | Springboard Policy | Substack

This is mine. Only Fridays have jobs though
innovationinthenews.substack.com/p/innovation...

Interesting! What's the source?

British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants The BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. These awards, up to £10,000 in value and tenable for up to 24 months, are provi...

Could you do with £10k for some humanities or social science research? We’ve opened the call for our small grants. These are assessed using partial randomisation - after applications meet our quality threshold awards are allocated at random, reducing bias
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/ba-l...

I feel like we all left Twitter and then keep posting screenshots making fun of Twitter/Musk without any of the stuff that made Twitter good (for me interesting articles on the subject I'm interested in)

I'm finding Bluesky such an echo chamber for US politics. Any tips on how to see something else than 1,000,000 posts about an election in Wisconsin and Cory Booker? At first when I joined I had my nerdy innovation policy space but now it's hard to find between the noise

5. Promote interlinkages and exchanges between the different projects and activities within the portfolio to harness complementarities between these projects

4. Establish clear portfolio management responsibilities within the mission management team

3. Perform portfolio reviews and stage-gate portfolio mechanisms should create strategic flexibility and avoid portfolio lock-in. These theories of change should be evergreen documents that evolve as you learn more about what works and does not in achieving the mission goals.

2. In developing and managing the portfolio, distinguish the different layers of activities, from those directly within the mission's control to those contributing to the mission's success but not under the mission's sphere of strategic influence

1. Missions don't just involve setting overarching goals but require a strategy on how they plan to reach their targets. To do so, missions should develop a theory of change, which outlines leverage points and expected contributions to achieving the mission objectives.

Proactive portfolio management in mission-oriented innovation policy Mission portfolio management is a critical ingredient in the success of mission-oriented innovation policies. This practice aims at ensuring that a consistent and tailor-made set of diverse projects a...

Mission portfolio management is a critical ingredient in the success of mission-oriented innovation policies, but what does this look like in practice? A new OECD paper introduces actionable guidance for the development, management, and monitoring of mission portfolios
www.oecd.org/en/publicati...

What does Justin Trudeau’s government leave behind? I have started, stopped, and re-written this piece several times. Part of the obstacle has been the difficulty of pretending it’s possible…

Sometime very soon after Sunday, PM Trudeau will step down and return to private life.

Here's a thing on trying to measure the PM's legacy.
!!!Warning - charts and data!!!

#cdnpoli #cdnecon

medium.com/@jennifer.ro...

MOIPs in Korea are the latest attempt to provide STI with more direction in order to prioritise technological development that both benefits Korean society and drives competitiveness. This study focuses on three cases, which you can explore here: lnkd.in/eNaKZfr7