Khandu said higher education has a particularly important role to play in a young, aspirational and geographically diverse state like Arunachal Pradesh. Calling for a fundamental shift in the role of universities, Khandu said research should increasingly focus on real‑life challenges faced by people. For Arunachal Pradesh, he said AI could have transformative applications in remote education, multilingual learning, disaster prediction, biodiversity monitoring and healthcare delivery. He identified tourism, agri‑business, food processing, bamboo, handicrafts, textiles, clean energy, digital services and indigenous products as areas with considerable entrepreneurial potential in Arunachal Pradesh. Referring to RRU’s presence in Pasighat, the Chief Minister described it as a strategic opportunity for Arunachal Pradesh and the wider Northeast.