Digital Independence

Lock-in is no longer just a commercial risk, it’s a matter of national security. How do governments respond to calls for resiliency and independence while digital platforms are becoming increasingly central to service delivery? See More.

How do you define independence? Some would say it's the ability to act without the interference of others. The military has a term for this: Continuous Authority to Operate. But in a digital world, our ability to act independently isn't just a matter of kinetic force or territorial control: a society must be able to function both online and off. That's a matter of more than just keeping data inside your borders; every technology is a potential vulnerability. See More.

Every public agency faces moments when reality changes faster than its existing structures can respond. The instinctual response to think deeply, consult experts, make detailed plans, and spend heavily almost always fails. See More.

This talk explores how Ukraine transformed its public services from fragmented, paper-based systems into a single digital platform, and how that shift helped the country continue to function during one of the most challenging crises in modern history. See More.

Governments are rapidly adopting AI systems that reshape how decisions are made, services are delivered, and power is exercised. Most of these systems are controlled by external vendors, built on proprietary models, and run on platforms that governments cannot fully inspect or replace. See More.

As AI accelerates a global change in governance, governments face a critical choice: become dependent on external systems or secure the ability to operate independently. This session moves beyond the theory of sovereignty to the mechanics of autonomy. See More.

An embassy is sovereign territory for a nation. Embassies let a country conduct diplomatic activities on someone else's soil. They're descendants of the times when a messenger was granted safe passage in a foreign land, but true embassies and ambassadors only appeared in the 1600s. But it was only in 1961 that the Vienna convention made an embassy inviolable—meaning the host couldn't enter the embassy, and diplomats were exempt from taxes, search and most local laws. See More.

Join Chris Allison, Director General of Data Analytics, AI and Information Management at the Department of National Defence’s Digital Service Group to discuss NATO funding commitments, investments in sovereign capabilities and what it could mean for Canadian and allied technology ecosystems. See More.

Digital independence is a practice, and most governments aren’t practicing. As we navigate geopolitical fracture, vendor lock-in, and eroding public trust, the question isn’t whether to act, but whether we have the will to follow through. See More.

Hillary and Alistair wrap up the day and tell you what's in store for July's event in Montreal. See More.