I heard much about about Finland yesterday, the leader of Plaid Cymru referred to Finland at length in his contribution, and of course we have taken an interest in the way that other countries, including Finland, have used innovation as a tool for national improvement and in a range of policy areas. Finland and other Scandinavian countries have had an explicit influence on the way that we've developed policy—not just the foundation phase, but many others as well—and the way that we seek to use our natural assets for the future of the country as well.

I think that goes into the points you were making about green innovation. If you think about the four missions, climate, nature and the economy, there's a really obvious overlap in this area, and it's one of the areas we spent lots of time talking about in this Chamber, not just about the unresolved issues around free ports, but about what we think we can do. With the large energy generation projects around floating offshore wind, there will be more innovation to come, and actually we've seen, in the Deputy Presiding Officer's own constituency, some of that innovation in a range of turbine technology and in different parts of Wales, and some of that could come back to the point about community generation as well, because there is something for us to learn about where we've been successful and where we haven't been as successful as we want to be, and it's also something where I think there's more room for more co-ops. Much of the community generation that has been successful has actually been co-operative, ballot-backed developments as well, and we have a really vibrant co-operative community in Wales. You'd expect me to say that as a Labour and Co-op member, but lots of that innovation does take place. The way we're looking to open up, as I set out in my statement, the ability to access some of that smart funding, should mean there is more opportunity for those organisations, not less, in the way they can access innovation spend in the future, and there are a range of services available to them: Cwmpas Cymru, very obviously, but also Business Wales too.

All of this does take in your point about the just transition. We'll talk about it more in the next statement as well. The transition we wish to make isn't to leave people behind, but how we see innovation improving the lives of people—people whether they're living in communities and the services that they may receive, or indeed people in the world of work and beyond. I want to give you the reassurance that the just transition is something that is a regular feature in the minds of Ministers about the choices we make and about the fact that there's a lot more disruption to come in the future. That can be an opportunity as well as a real risk for the people that we represent.

On your point about COVID-19 innovation, it did prevent a range of areas and innovations that were in train, work that was happening—much of that was interrupted. But I think there's an important point to make here, that actually, because of COVID-19, we had to innovate in a whole range of areas, and we did. There's the way in which, for example, the Welsh ambulance service were able to think again about how they could re-prepare vehicles to be able to go out. That had to happen and, because of the forced innovation, we've ended up with the better system that we have in place now, and, in a range of other areas, the innovation that was forced has actually led people to make different choices. Sometimes it's about products. Sometimes it's about services. Sometimes it's the way that people work. If you look at the innovation that has taken place just in terms of the way we work on a hybrid basis, not just in this place, but it's commonplace in the world of work, where it's possible to do so, three years ago we would not have thought that's the way that people would expect to work in an office environment, for example, today. So, there's much more innovation that is to come. It's not just about, if you like, the obvious people-in-white-coats end of innovation. Much of the innovation that improves our lives come from when we rethink the way we approach the world and the way that we work as well, and then the consistent application of it. And that's one of the things we are talking to our stakeholders about, because sometimes it's about the new and the difficult things, the cutting-edge part of it. At other times, it's about how we translate what we know works much more consistently and effectively. So, we have a new discovery challenge and opportunity. We then also have an implementation and application challenge, which is just as much an issue in the private sector as it is in public services. But, I can honestly say stakeholders are very positive about where we've got to now, and, in the next phase, I look forward to keeping them on board with us.