The OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2025 examines how to mobilise research and innovation to address urgent global challenges, such as the climate crisis, rising geopolitical tensions, and rapid technological change.

The report highlights several key pillars for modernizing STI policy:

• Driving Transformative Change: Moving beyond "business-as-usual" to reform STI systems so they can generate and deploy knowledge at an unprecedented pace to support sustainability, economic competitiveness, and resilience.
• Navigating Geopolitics: Reconfiguring international cooperation to protect national security and sensitive knowledge while maintaining the openness necessary for scientific advancement.
• Adapting Science Systems: Implementing structural reforms in academia, such as improving career paths and incentives, to better support multidisciplinary research and engage directly with society.
• Harnessing Convergence and Ecosystems: Leveraging the integration of technologies like AI, biotechnology, and quantum computing while using an "industrial ecosystem" approach to design more effective policies.
• Boosting Agility: Strengthening government capacity for strategic foresight and policy experimentation to remain responsive in a context of high uncertainty.