Can innovation during a crisis help to maintain core values? Crisis governance is central to democratic societies seeking to navigate increasingly turbulent times. Current approaches seek to protect existing systems and practices by building resilience (“bouncing back”). However, such approaches risk enhancing inequities and heightening turbulence. Building on recent examples from nine European countries, ROBUST identifies a forward-looking ‘robustness’ approach to crisis governance that embraces the need for innovation and adaptation of current practices (“building back better”) as a necessary condition for maintaining the core values of democracy and the rule of law during crisis governance interventions.