This is a really important question, and thank you for posing it, because it suggests the extent to which innovation is really needed across society in all our sectors.
It's interesting the extent to which the last few years have changed the game in terms of pressure to innovate. I think the pandemic, for example, in a kind of unexpected way, really accelerated the digital transformation, even though it's been going on for decades. In fact, with the new pressure to be digitally enabled, to be able to service and so on, all of a sudden expressions that are 30 years old, like telehealth, are now really happening. I think that is one really important change.
The other one is how extreme weather events have really accelerated the climate change debate. I think that there is a social licensing phenomenon now. People are very aware now, so whatever your business is, whatever your activity is, you're now expected to be sustainable. Citizens, clients, customers and so on expect that.
It seems to me that universities have to play a key role in this, because, as you know, how we can move toward a sustainable way of living in our communities and how we can move toward a digitally enabled way in our community and so on is really dependent on that kind of expertise and knowledge that I think come out of our institutions.
That's why I emphasize the extent to which all our disciplines are involved in this. It's because, at the end of the day, these are really individual choices, societal choices, decision-making, and what does that mean? That means human thought and behaviour, and technology has become really important—or not, depending on whether people decide to use it. I think that trying to understand that kind of constellation is key, and I think our research universities are really important in supporting those efforts.