Information is power. Recently I met members of Britain’s Olympic cycling team and was struck by the way they had used data to analyse and improve their performance. This team, a source of pride for the nation, focuses relentlessly on the pursuit of measurable, second-by-second improvements – the difference between winning and losing. Information has turned them into winners.

We have also seen in science that the very act of collaborating, of publishing research, has led to advances that could never have been planned.