The characteristics of a market-shaping approach can best be articulated through Mariana Mazzucato's 'R-O-A-R framework', as outlined in her practical approach to implementing mission-oriented innovation policies (2016, 2017).

These characteristics can be defined as: (1) policies that actively set directions of change, fostering more dynamic, bottom-up exploration, discovery, and learning; (2) policies that encourage public organisations to learn by doing and build absorptive capacity; (3) policies that transform static metrics into dynamic ones that go beyond the static ideas embodied in cost/benefit analysis; and (4) policies that build symbiotic private-public partnerships that form new deals, sharing the risks and rewards of investments.