physics

Mission Innovation

Mission Innovation is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Mission Innovation rather than just read about it. In short: Mission Innovation is a global initiative to accelerate public and private clean energy innovation to address climate change, make clean energy affordable to consumers, and create green jobs and commercial opportunities. History Mission Innovation was announced at COP21 on 30 November 2015 by President Obama of the United States, on behalf of the founding Governments.

Key takeaways

Mission Innovation belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Mission Innovation to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Mission Innovation from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Mission Innovation is a global initiative to accelerate public and private clean energy innovation to address climate change, make clean energy affordable to consumers, and create green jobs and commercial opportunities.

History Mission Innovation was announced at COP21 on 30 November 2015 by President Obama of the United States, on behalf of the founding Governments. At the same time Bill Gates launched Breakthrough Energy. Also on stage for the launch was President Hollande of France and Prime Minister Modi of India. At the launch, 20 countries committed to double their respective clean energy research and development over the five years to 2020. For the US Department of Energy, this translates into an additional $4 billion by the end of 2020. The countries include the five most populous (as at 2015): China, India, the United States, Indonesia, and Brazil. All 20 launch partner countries represent 75 percent of the world's CO2 emissions from electricity, and over 80 percent of the world's clean energy R&D investment. Scientists, academics, and officials who had called for a Global Apollo Programme earlier in 2015 commented that the group should set a specific target to make clean electricity cheaper to produce than coal, preferably by 2025.

Technology focus In November 2016, the member governments agreed to co-ordinate their efforts around seven "Innovation Challenges," and added an eighth Innovation Challenge in 2018. They are:

Smart grids Off-grid access to electricity Carbon capture Sustainable biofuels Converting sunlight into solar fuels Clean energy materials to sequester carbon in useful materials Affordable heating & cooling of buildings Renewable and clean hydrogen

Participating countries The following are founder members:

See also Breakthrough Energy Global Apollo Programme International Energy Agency International Renewable Energy Agency World Economic Forum

External links mission-innovation.net

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Mission Innovation

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Mission Innovation claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Mission Innovation before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Mission Innovation ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Mission Innovation

In research: Mission Innovation appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Mission Innovation in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Mission Innovation is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2015 in Paris, 2015 in the environment, Bill Gates, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Mission Innovation outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Mission Innovation in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Mission Innovation means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Mission Innovation out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mission Innovation in simple terms?

Why does Mission Innovation matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Mission Innovation?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Mission Innovation.