PRI seeks to accelerate transformative outcomes by introducing local missions to coordinate actions under a coherent directional logic, exploring broad-ranging policy mixes for system-level innovation. PRI has a strong focus on innovation policy, but it also encompasses and inspires industrial, employment, education and social policies. PRI implies new ways of working across government departments and levels focused on addressing territorial challenges.

PRI places particular emphasis on actions with strong transformative potential: it focuses on the further development of aspects of innovation strategies such as broad stakeholder engagement and mobilisation, multi-level governance, synergies between policies and between funds, broad-based innovation for SMEs, the social dimension of innovation, and directions for innovation that lead to co-benefits for the economy, society and the environment.

PRI comes as a response to the urgent call of the European Green Deal to address the unprecedented challenge posed by climate change in ways that strengthen social and territorial cohesion and ensure that Europe thrives in the green and digital economy of the future. Innovation is about doing things differently. PRI seeks to adopt a broad and systemic framing of innovation, recognising that the levers for transformative change and all its economic, social and environmental promise lie not just in science and technology but also in the very design of our production and consumption systems.

PRI seeks to explore and experiment with new approaches designed to join up efforts across government and stakeholders, develop partnerships and amplify impact. There is a need for a strategic framework not just for growth, but also for other investments and stakeholder actions in our transition towards sustainable development paths. Elements of this framework - such as broad stakeholder coordination - are already present in smart specialisation strategies, whereas others will have to be introduced based on sound evidence and lessons from leading policy practice.