Mission Innovation: promoting clean energy technologies

Mission Innovation is not a conventional funding instrument, but a government-led platform for networking and cooperation. It promotes knowledge transfer, best practices and an enabling environment for innovation. In Switzerland, the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) is responsible for the pilot phase.

The initiative consists of seven public-private Missions:

• Green Powered Future
• Zero-Emission Shipping
• Clean Hydrogen
• Carbon Dioxide Removal
• Urban Transitions
• Integrated Biorefineries
• Net-Zero Industries

In Switzerland, participation is currently possible in two missions: Integrated Biorefineries and Net-Zero Industries. The former focuses on advancing the technological development and deployment of bio-based fuels, chemicals, and materials, while the latter aims to develop cost-effective solutions for efficient decarbonisation, particularly in energy-intensive industries. Central to both missions is the integration of existing expertise and market-ready technologies into established industrial processes. Implementation costs are expected to be borne mainly by industry and private investment.

Mission Innovation provides Switzerland with a valuable platform to strengthen and diversify global cooperation in research and innovation. It enables active engagement in multilateral discussions on clean technologies and facilitates the acquisition of strategic know-how.

SERI brings stakeholders to the table

The pilot phase will serve to assess whether full membership in Mission Innovation offers added value for Switzerland. To support this evaluation, SERI plans to convene a meeting of interested stakeholders in the first quarter of 2026. The aim will be to determine whether strategic networking and knowledge transfer can effectively lead to new projects and collaborative ventures.

SERI will work in coordination with its partners – including the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW), the Swiss Coordination Committee for Biotechnology (SCCB), the Swiss Chemical Society (SCS), and scienceindustries – to bring together stakeholders interested in participating in the Integrated Biorefineries and Net-Zero Industries missions. In line with the objectives of these missions, the initial focus will be on decarbonising Switzerland’s chemical industry through bio-based solutions.

The chemical industry faces not only the challenge of transitioning to renewable energy sources, but also of reducing its nearly complete reliance on oil as a raw material for production (not as a fuel). The Integrated Biorefineries mission can offer support in this area, as several promising approaches already exist for producing renewable, bio-based chemicals from biomass – including wood, agricultural residues, food waste, and algae. The event will be held at the national level to connect domestic industry with SMEs and start-ups active in the bioeconomy sector.

From pilot project to global impact?

This stakeholder event constitutes a key milestone in Switzerland’s pilot phase with Mission Innovation. The aim will be to explore pathways for accelerating the market uptake of existing clean technologies without reliance on traditional public funding programmes.

Switzerland’s pilot participation in Mission Innovation could provide significant impetus for expanding international research and innovation partnerships and serve as a springboard for new forms of global cooperation.