Past sessions
Each fall, the world’s leading public servants, tech innovators, and academics gather in Canada's Capital for the annual FWD50 conference. FWD50 spans multiple days of packed content, from keynotes and workshops to breakouts and meeting rooms, as well as other community meetups we run throughout the week. Every year we tackle a different theme on the most pressing challenges in digital government and curate our content accordingly. Browse all our past sessions from over the years using our interactive agenda.
In PersonVirtual
November 01
12:00 PM
Networking
Think Digital Morning Social
Join the Think Digital team for a morning coffee chat! Think Digital is a Canadian-based consultancy that advocates for agile, human-centered approaches to solving problems and supports innovative uses of digital technology and data to advance the public good through our advisory, training, and engagement services. See More.
1:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Welcome to FWD50 2022!
Welcome back! We've got an amazing few days planned for all attendees, whether you're joining us online or in person. Tune in to find out what's in store! See More.
1:15 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Evolving Enterprise: Enabling Effective IT Services
SSC President Sony Perron will discuss how the department has delivered on its ambitious digital mandate and, along with its government-wide partners, continues to evolve its enterprise approach, delivering connectivity and security services, applications and data hosting solutions and common collaboration and communication tools that are the backbone to digital service delivery to Canadians. See More.
1:40 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
The Government of Tomorrow is Designed Today
Gain insight into how we can bring together people, technology and processes to create new ways of working, and create a better future for Canada. This talk is sure to inspire you. Working together, we can make Canada an innovation leader. See More.
2:05 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Digital transformation during the war
Join Gulsanna Mamediieva, Director General of the Directorate for European Integration at the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine as she outlines how they are managing digital transformation during a time of war. See More.
Director General of the Directorate for European Integration
Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine
2:25 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Constructing trust as a key digital experience for governments
In an age where dis-information is rampant, engagement is low, our decisions are challenged in court, and trust in government is declining...we need to rethink the digital experience we are designing for. See More.
2:50 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
How to Hack Your Bureaucracy
Hear the former Chief Technology Officer of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs share strategies and stories of getting things done in some of the world’s most impossible bureaucracies. Gain inspiration and a new idea or two of how to tackle your toughest challenges at work, and beyond! See More.
3:15 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
X, The Moonshot Factory: A Culture for Radical Innovation
In this conversation with FWD50 chair Alistair Croll, serial entrepreneur and Google X Firestarter Jessica Trybus takes us inside the moonshot mindset that’s behind great leaps forward for humanity and technology. See More.
3:40 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
That's a wrap for the morning!
Find out what's in store for your afternoon. See More.
3:45 PM
Networking
Lunch time!
It's time for a break! Take this opportunity to grab lunch and catch up with, or meet your fellow attendees! See More.
5:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Moving Forward with Digital Transformation
The Honourable Mona Fortier, President of the Treasury Board Secretariat (TBS), will speak to the Government of Canada’s digital priorities and the importance of leadership, collaboration, and talent – to meet the challenges of continuously improving how government delivers digital services and programs. See More.
5:15 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
How Public Trust is Won & Lost Through Service Delivery
This talk is aimed at anyone who is involved in public sector program delivery, information-as-a-service or data-as-a-service. Attendees will hear lessons that are grounded in theory and supported by relevant digital government case studies. See More.
Learning & Doing
Identifying Digital Government Blockers
In this session, we will use the Pac-Man model as a starting point to unpack what some of the real-world challenges public servants face in applying modern digital ways of working in a government context. See More.
6:15 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Fix the damn websites
In this talk, Emma Gawen, Partner at global digital transformation consultancy Public Digital, will apply lessons from conversations spanning 10 years answering ‘How do I get my site to be like GOV.UK’? See More.
7:15 PM
Networking
Break time!
It's time for a break! Take this opportunity to catch up with, or meet your fellow attendees! See More.
7:30 PM
Learning & Doing
Want to increase adoption? Try strategic engagement!
Join Roy Nader with ESDC Digital Workplace taskforce (DWT) to learn how to Inspire and Empower employees to Transform. You’ll experience a live engaging session where you’ll take notes of the different strategies you’re experiencing. See More.
Manager, Engagement and Digital Culture, Digital Workplace Taskforce
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
8:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
What does winning look like?
What makes the difference between teams that fail and succeed? In this workshop, FWD50 alumni Katherine, Katy and Honey return to workshop different scenarios around how to set up digital government teams to do their best work. See More.
Chief Digital Officer, Head of Enterprise Digital Credentials
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada
9:30 PM
Networking
FWD50 x TuesdayClub613
Join us for a night of music and mingling as we connect with TuesdayClub613, a community organization that helps Ottawa businesses hurt by the pandemic, and the loss of government workers downtown! We will be meeting at two nearby local businesses: The Belmont (5:30 pm to 7:00 pm) and Redbird Live (7:00 pm to 9:00 pm). RSVP is required for these events. See More.
November 02
12:00 PM
Networking
Future-Proof Your Career
Future-Proof Your Career and join the Federal Youth Network (FYN) for a discussion on the evolution of career essentials. Click 'See More' to know what's happening on-site this morning. See More.
1:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Welcome to day 2!
Join Alistair as he kicks off the second day of FWD50! See More.
1:20 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Canada's Digital Ambition
In this session, CIO Catherine Luelo, shares insight on the Government of Canada Digital Ambition and discusses private-sector collaboration, digital identity, and analytics with FWD50 chair Alistair Croll. See More.
Chief Information Officer
Canada
Deputy Minister
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada
1:45 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Bringing Together Technology, People and Processes: Meeting Citizens Expectations Online
Business critical applications, mission critical IT infrastructure, cloud, analytics data science and agile DevSecOps are often impeded by multi-platform dependency, heritage systems and processes which can present a challenge trying to keep up with the pace of service delivery demands on Government. See More.
2:10 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Governing the Artificial Intelligence lifecycle, From Data to Deployment
In this session, AI safety and policy expert Irene Solaiman lays out the entire lifecycle of AI, from data to deployment. She will present a taxonomy of AI risks, and suggest what guidance the private sector and industry need from the public sector. See More.
2:35 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
The digital go bag: essentials for sustainable digital transformation delivery
Digital playbooks and strategic plans such as the GC’s Digital Ambition will tell you the what of the work. In this retrospective session, you’ll learn some of the how of the work; designed to help future-proof digital files for when you get handed the keys to a digital file. See More.
Digital Transformation Leader
3:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Transforming citizen service delivery: The cloud difference
Alistair will talk to AWS’ health care lead for Western Canada, Erin O’Halloran, about their work with BC’s Provincial Health Services Agency and Ministry of Health, to roll out COVID vaccines at scale in the province. See More.
3:25 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
C4C & CfA: A fireside chat
Join Code for America CEO Amanda Renteria and Code for Canada Executive Director Dorothy Eng for a conversation on public interest technology and the work that’s happening - and still needs to happen - from both inside and outside of government. See More.
3:50 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
That's a wrap for the morning!
Stick with us and find out what's in store for your afternoon! See More.
4:00 PM
Networking
Lunch time!
It's time for a break! Take this opportunity to grab lunch and catch up with, or meet your fellow attendees! See More.
5:15 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
AMA: Open Systems, climate crisis, and averting the Tragedy of the Commons
Collective problems require collective action. Climate change is the most existential of problems, and it needs the most fundamental of solutions: Openness. Join Evan for an interactive conversation about the challenges and promise of open approaches to energy, sustainability, and innovation. See More.
Learning & Doing
The Governance Game
Dodge calamity while managing code contributions from multiple governments, organizations, or vendors, and agreeing on new features to co-finance - which card will you play next? Join us to play this interactive game created by the Foundation for Public Code. See More.
5:45 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
AMA: How to "Productionize" AI
In this session, AI expert Navdeep Martin will give you a clear overview of AI fundamentals that decision-makers need to understand in order to "talk the talk." She'll share real-world examples gleaned from decades delivering actual AI products in both public and private sectors. See More.
6:15 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
AMA: The State of Government-Vendor Relations
In this Ask Me Anything session, Amanda will discuss what she learned, and share her perspective on the things that governments and private sector actors are doing well—and not so well—when they work together in support of digital government reform. See More.
Associate Professor & Public Affairs Research Excellence Chair
Carleton University’s School of Public Policy & Administration
6:45 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
AMA: The human cost of digital transformation
Policies, availability of technology in organization and mode of delivery being relatively the same as before, could rapidity be achieved at the expense of employees’ health? Pierre-Luc Pilon thinks so. Ask him anything. See More.
Manager, Data Management - Service and Data Modernization Directorate, Digital Services and Transformation Office
Transport Canada
7:15 PM
Networking
Break time!
It's time for a break! Take this opportunity to catch up with, or meet your fellow attendees! See More.
7:30 PM
Learning & Doing
Going from 0 to Live Service in 60 Minutes
This interactive session by the Canadian Digital Service will show you how to create bilingual, accessible, secure, policy compliant government services using platform products like GC Notify. You will also get a first look at some of the new products they are developing for government teams. See More.
8:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
The Beeck Center Takeover - G2G: Governments Sharing Digital Services
Federal, provincial, state, local, territorial, Indigenous, tribal: we live in many governments. Join us as we explore what it would mean to share digital services across government lines, with real world examples and lessons learned. See More.
Chief Digital Officer, Head of Enterprise Digital Credentials
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada
Chief Digital & Data Officer
Government of Ontario
Deputy Minister, Digital Strategy
Government of Ontario
November 03
12:00 AM
Networking
FWD50 FailFest
Join us at FWD50 Fail Fest to share some of your most frustrating civic and government failure stories in an open-mic, off-the-record format. RSVP is required for this always-popular event. Note that this event will be held off-site at 3 Brewers - Sparks Street. See More.
12:00 PM
Networking
Code for Canada and Digital Talent Forum Morning Meetups
Start your day with great conversations! Come and meet Code for Canada in the Working Zone, or join the Digital Talent Forum Meetup in the Workshop Space to mix and mingle with digital talent strategists and leaders. See More.
1:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Welcome back!
It's the final day of FWD50! We've got great things planned. Tune in to hear what's in store. See More.
1:10 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Designing for legitimacy: building trustworthy systems in the special context of government
Pia Andrews will walk through the special context of government and how it can and should be applied in the design, delivery and operations of government policies and services, or order to maintain legitimacy with the general public. See More.
Serial Public Sector Transformer
1:35 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
A Better Definition of Resilience
In this session, Kyndryl's Felicity (Flick) March joins FWD50 chair Alistair Croll for a conversation about disaster readiness, risk, and how we need to redefine "cyber resilience" more broadly to mitigate today's physical and digital realities. See More.
2:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
The tech industry’s ‘seatbelt’ moment
A 360-degree view of online safety from Australia’s trailblazing eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, exploring the tech industry’s ‘seatbelt’ moment and why protections must be embedded in Web 3.0 now, before the potential for harms accelerates. See More.
2:25 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Incentivising Good Behaviour
In this session, Maria Patterson draws from her experience building partnerships and collaborations for social good in government, academia, startups, and corporate innovation and walks through ideas for amplifying impact for the greater good by finding and aligning incentives to help one good apple sweeten the bunch. See More.
EIR & Director of New Ventures
LG Nova
Former Fellow
White House Presidential Innovation Fellows
2:50 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Everything you know about public policy is wrong
Vass Bednar will share new reflections on the blockers to achieving a more anticipatory policy making practice. After attending this session, you’ll be better prepared to stop being gas-lit by policymaking myths - get Vass-lit instead. See More.
Executive Director, MPP in Digital Society Program and Adjunct Professor
Political Science, McMaster University
3:15 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Is the strategy still delivery?
In this talk, Mike Bracken, former Executive Director of Digital of the UK Government, reflects on his global experience in the 10 years since the launch of GOV.UK and the creation of the UK's Government Digital Service. See More.
3:40 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
That's a wrap for the morning!
What have we got planned for your afternoon? Tune in and find out! See More.
3:45 PM
Networking
Lunch time!
It's time for a break! Take this opportunity to grab lunch and catch up with, or meet your fellow attendees! See More.
5:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Improving the Product of Digital Government
If your new initiatives seem to fizzle out, your workers feel frustrated, and you’re struggling to create a culture of empowerment, then you may actually be focussed on the wrong things. This session looks at how to make course corrections to get back on track. See More.
Speaker, Consultant, Author
Learning & Doing
Mentor Hourglass Pass
We've got questions; you've got answers! In this session, you'll tackle some of digital transformation's toughest challenges at a table of your peers, led by expert mentors. To keep things moving, we'll pass an hourglass among participants. See More.
Director, Digital Talent Attraction & Development
The Exchange Lab, Government of British Columbia
Senior Program Lead, Office of the Corporate Chief Information Officer
Government Information Technology Ontario, Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery
Serial Public Sector Transformer
Manager, Engagement and Digital Culture, Digital Workplace Taskforce
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
Digital Transformation Leader
Executive Director, MPP in Digital Society Program and Adjunct Professor
Political Science, McMaster University
Facilitator & Trainer
Think Digital
Senior Policy Advisor, CDS
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS), Government of Canada
Assistant Deputy Minister & Chief Data Officer
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
6:00 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Spatial finance: the integration of geospatial data and analysis into financial research
Join us at this session to learn how the Bank of Canada is conducting a joint proof of concept project with Google Cloud and Climate Engine, to explore the potentials of using earth observation data for the research on better understanding the impact of drought on the Canadian economy. See More.
Learning & Doing
Delivering at the Speed of Trust
Be prepared to confront some pre-internet rules that govern how public servants work during our interactive component–you’ll be tackling a problem in an activity that mirrors what product teams currently need to follow to release a service. See More.
Chief of Staff, Digital Experience and Client Data Workstream
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
7:00 PM
Networking
Break time!
It's time for a break! Take this opportunity to catch up with, or meet your fellow attendees! See More.
7:30 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
Digital Leadership
Join former Estonian CIO and author of the recently released book "Digital Government Excellence: Lessons from Effective Digital Leaders" as he talks about Digital Leadership. See More.
Learning & Doing
Job Jobs
Join us for a chance to sit down with your peers and discuss your issues with people facing the same things! You never know what kind of future collaborations may come out of it! This will be a chance for you to connect with people. See More.
7:50 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
The State of Hybrid Work in IT
Should you mandate employees back to the office full-time, or should you try to reach some compromise with your workforce on where they work? In this talk you will hear about recent findings from a State of the Hybrid Work in IT survey and how they might influence the decisions impacting your IT workforce. See More.
Practice Lead, People & Leadership Research & Advisory Services
Info-Tech Research Group
8:30 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
How to Change Minds about How to Change Minds
In this lecture David will take us through the science of why it’s so hard to change minds, not just when it comes to new policies, new courses of action, and new ideas that challenge previous conventions, but how hard it can be to to change minds about how to change minds. See More.
8:55 PM
Inspiring & Interacting
That's a wrap!
We did it, 3 jam-packed days! Thank you so much for joining us! Don't forget, we want to hear from you, so please make sure you fill out the survey that's coming your way! See More.