Cancer Mission Monitoring

What is the issue?

In 2021, the European Commission launched its first five missions: Adaptation to Climate Change, Cancer, Ocean and Waters, Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, and A Soil Deal for Europe. The mission on cancer aims to improve the lives of 3 million people with or affected by cancer by 2030. To reach this goal, the Mission’s objectives are to reduce the number of new cancer cases and improve survival rates and quality of life by focusing on cancer screening and early detection, diagnosis and treatment, and quality of life. The Cancer Mission’s overarching added value is that it sets the groundwork for cross-sectoral and multidisciplinary solutions and innovations in cancer prevention and control at the European and national levels.

While the missions are still a novel policy approach and are at a relatively early stage in terms of embeddedness in the EU research and innovation (R&I) mechanism portfolio, monitoring mission progress is proving to be a challenging task. In the case of the cancer mission, specifically, while the final goal of improving the lives of people with or affected by cancer is clear and measurable, the extent to which the activities funded through the mission contribute to that final goal remains unclear.

How are we helping?

We believe that effective monitoring will have a significant impact on the delivery of the Cancer Mission programme of work, as well as that of the EU’s five missions more broadly. We believe that monitoring the mission’s progress can bring several additional benefits:

• Increase the effectiveness of how missions are delivered by supporting strategic intelligence functions and learning.
• Increase the transparency and visibility of the mission both institutionally, as well as from a citizen engagement perspective.
• Help coordinate funding from other sources, including member states and private sector.
• Facilitate learning around the usefulness of the mission delivery tool.

The purpose of this study is to assess performance and impact of the EU Cancer Mission, including monitoring progress of actions and initiatives supported under the four objectives of the Cancer Mission (Understanding of cancer; Prevention and early detection; Diagnosis and Treatment; and Quality of Life), in line with the Horizon Europe Regulation.

To deliver on the project objectives, we will develop and implement a monitoring strategy to assess the progress of the EU Cancer Mission. We will use an iterative approach, comprising dashboard design, refinement and input, indicator assessment and data review, to monitor strategy development, refinement, implementation. The steps outlined above will follow a six-monthly cycle where, following an initial pilot design within three months of the project start date, the dashboard design will be refined based on existing data for each indicator, feasibility and utility of regular reporting for the different indicators, input from Cancer Mission stakeholders via workshops, and overall feedback on performance of the dashboard assessed through engagement metrics and user feedback.

---

Additional team member

• Ishita Puri