Grand Challenges: A New Big Idea in Global Research and Higher Education Policy?

In recent years the ‘Grand Challenges’ concept has been actively used by universities, national governments, private foundations and international organizations around the world to emphasize the need to reorient research and higher education activities towards solving major global problems in areas such as health, environment and energy. ‘Grand Challenges’ concept typically envisages boundary spanning collaborations among academic, economic and social actors to tackle real-life problems (Cagnin et al 2012). One of the policy rationales for building the European Research Area is the need to collectively address ‘Grand Challenges’. This paper builds on earlier studies of the role of ideas in interntional research policy (Biegelbauer & Borras 2003; Sanz-Menendez & Borras 2001) to study the current ‘Grand Challenges’ turn. It explores the history of the idea, its diverse uses and diffusion as well as current initiatives to implement it such as Horizon 2020 and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology.