Well, I think it's important for us, at least from NSERC, to.... We tend not to use that kind of terminology because in many cases it's really up to the research itself as to where it goes and the course. That being said, and maybe to build on some of the discussions we've had earlier, our job at NSERC first and foremost is, for example, how to identify what's going on. Through the process of peer review we have 3,000 to 12,000 applications a year that come in from researchers around the country proposing ideas that they consider to be world class, ideas on science and knowledge that are above the grade. That's not only in Canada; we're talking globally.
The job of the peer reviewers, the people who understand those fields, is to understand whether they are actually working in areas that are exciting. Are they working in areas where there's growth? That's on the one side, and you need to continually have that because every other country in the world is doing the same thing. This is a constant of development that we can't miss out on.
The crux of the issue always comes down to how you apply that effectively. Again, we're back to the question of talking to those who are actually facing problems, be it market, be it social, and being able to say the knowledge that you have or the discoveries that you've made can help with what my issue may be.
Perhaps I may pick up a little bit on your discussion with Dan here about how you can tell when we're going to move to a disruptive piece. I think one of the things that is very evident here is that there's a price point. Probably the best example of that is in the information and communication technologies. Some of you may be familiar with what's called Moore's law, where the principle basically is a straight line—for every year there's a doubling in the power and halving of the price.
We're now into the third decade of Moore's law, and we're being able to do things that were unimaginable even two years ago. It's not only one little device that's involved. It's the whole knowledge that's come back and forth from the university community. Basic research, by the way, is not only done in universities. It is done in other institutions.