I think one thing has changed in Canada considerably: the desire among scholars to collaborate. In previous generations, there tended to be solitary scholars: “I'm going to work in my discipline, and I'm going to have an impact in that area.” The new generation of scholars in Canada recognizes that they have incredible value to offer in solving some very important problems. That has led to, in essence, a generational shift in collaboration and in how scholars want to work together to solve those problems. That's been a very fast-moving tide. It is a challenge for built-up granting organizations, such as NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC. They have specific mandates and have delivered incredibly for Canada, but, in terms of discovery research, it's about being able to anticipate those changes at the global level.
I'll give you one example. We were involved in a project—I won't give you the area—that brought together interdisciplinary work from the U.S., Germany and Canada. It was a challenge for our tri-council to get their head around the magnitude of the problem. The new capstone organization would be a one-stop shop for that, in terms of engaging with international partners to facilitate this. That was driven by the scholars up into the organization. Having that opportunity to collaborate across the councils, I think, would be beneficial.
There has been a sea change in collaboration across the world, in a very short period of time.