The extraordinary efforts that took mankind to the moon 50 years ago were more than a scientific feat of aeronautics. They required new forms of collaboration between the public sector (notably, NASA) and private companies. This book asks: what if the same level of boldness—the boldness that set inspirational goals, took risks and explicitly recognized that this requires large spending but will be worthwhile in terms of long-term growth—was applied to the biggest problems of our time, climate change, disease and inequality, to name only a few? Mariana Mazzucato argues that applying innovation to societal goals and structuring government budgets more explicitly to the long-term, as the moon programme did, we can do government differently. Quotes 'This book is by an influential thinker on an important topic at a time when trust in direction by governments has risen greatly relative to trust in decentralised competition within markets. Mazzucato recommends goal-oriented innovation as the way forward for the world.' -Martin Wolf / Financial Times