WHO WILL ATTEND?

TECHNICITY GTA is designed for municipal decision makers, private sector IT influencers, digital entrepreneurs interested in the public sector space, and individual businesses interested in the changing face of digital government. The conference will be available on-demand to resonate throughout the year.

THE FORMAT

Returning as a hybrid and interactive experience that combines live presentations and recorded panels, Technicity GTA will explore the power of partnerships and technology to spur economic growth; the innovative digital strategies that are driving internal collaboration and efficiency; and how taxpayers are reaping the rewards.

Opening Remarks

Fawn Annan, CEO & CMO, ITWC
Josie Scioli, Deputy City Manager, Corporate Services, City of Toronto

Keynote Speaker – Sponsored by Google

John Cousens, Managing Director, Public Sector Canada Google

Panel: Meeting the Cybersecurity Challenge – Sponsored by Ricoh

With change and growth will also invariably come a degree of risk. This session will look at “How to Prioritize Security with a Limited Budget.” What are the five things you need to invest in?

Moderator: 
Richard Freeman, Certified Information Professional (CIP), ECM Portfolio Manager, Enterprise Workflow Solutions, Ricoh Canada

Panelists:
Brent Capp,  IT Security and Risk Officer, Town of Newmarket
Kush Sharma, Director, Municipal Modernization & Partnerships, MISA Ontario
Roland Chan, CISO, Toronto Metropolitan University

Fireside Chat: Town of Ajax

As Ajax reaches the final years of its 5-year Information Technology Strategic Roadmap, the Town is increasingly shifting its focus to optimization and smarter decision-making through data. Data, both spatial and in other forms, is considered a critical corporate asset, and we are working to ensure that it is easily accessible and used to provide valuable business insights. 

Jim Love, CIO, ITWC
Nicole Cooper, Director, Legislative and Information Services/Clerk, City of Ajax

Fireside Chat: City of Brampton

Jim Love, CIO, ITWC
Adam Hughes, CIO, City of Brampton

Panel: Citizen Modernization – Sponsored by Google

City modernization and urbanization result primarily from technological advancements. The importance to improve technological infrastructure, with municipalities owning or managing 60% of city infrastructure, helps to attract higher human capital needed to support systems for future development. There is a growing belief to push for bold and sometimes radical yet sustainable solutions to meet future city requirements. Citizens and businesses are demanding such results. This session explores current and future activities for planning, maintaining, and growing great cities.

Moderator:
David Stoehr, Enterprise Account Executive, Google Cloud Canada

Panelists:
Grant Cowan, Manager of IT, Town of Innisfil
Cyrus Tehrani, City of Hamilton, Chief Digital Officer and Director of Innovation
Marco Palermo, City of Toronto, Deputy CTO of Technology Standardization Delivery

Fireside Chat: The Role of Print in Digital Transformation – Sponsored by Epson

Printers and multifunction devices are where the digital transformation journey begins for many organizations connecting the paper-based and digital worlds. 

Fawn Annan, CEO & CMO, ITWC
Dennis Fan,  Business Inkjet Enterprise Product Manager  Epson Canada

Panel: End to End Customer Experience

The citizen experience, from individual to enterprise business perspectives, comes with expectations for all services a municipality offers. Rethinking serving the customer by government departments and agencies is now top-of-mind. The pandemic built higher reliability and dependence on the city customer, radically altering expectations. Products and their designs, technology, processes, and policies are being revamped. This session will discuss the changes, the new technologies allowing for radical changes and policy thinking to place the customer first.

Moderator: 
Mai Nguyen, Head of Government Relations & Public Policy, VMware Canada 

Panelists:
Cielo Medel, CIO, City of Mississauga
Becky Jamieson, Director of Corporate Services/Municipal Clerk, Township of Scugog  
Karthik Venkataraman, Director, Information Technology Services, Town of Newmarket
Gary Yorke, Executive Director, Public Sector Canada Google

Fireside Chat: CRM Partnership Initiative

In 2022, the Township of Scugog, one of the eight lower-tier municipalities in the Region of Durham, partnered with the Region of Durham on its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) project. Scugog built its CRM, myscugogconnected.ca, within the Region of Durham’s CRM, which will be live to the public in late March 2023. Scugog is a tenant within the Region’s system.  

Jim Love, CIO, ITWC
Becky Jamieson, Director, Corporate Services/Municipal Clerk, Township of Scugog
Kalyan Chakravarthy, CIO, Durham RegionCRM Partnership Initiative

Panel: City Building Panel

The change in consumer behaviour since COVID-19 has had a huge impact on city centre areas. The changing retail and service habits, dependence on the automobile, increased dependence on remote work alongside better connectivity, and the rising cost of land in downtown cores, feed into the argument that there are fewer reasons to live and work in city centre regions. Downtown revitalization efforts are necessary to attract and generate significant economic activity placing focus on new policies and investments that ensure a healthy centre. Cities are undergoing major digital transformations to stay competitive and attract the businesses and citizens required to keep a city vibrant and competitive in the short, medium, and long term. This session will examine what is necessary to keep innovation and investment moving forward.

Moderator:
Connie McCutcheon, President, MISA Canada, 

Panelists:
Grant Coffey, Toronto Seniors Housing Corp, Interim Director, Strategy and Communications
Alice Xu, City of Toronto, Director, Connect TO

Fireside Chat: Structured and unstructured data – Understanding what you have and bringing it all together – Sponsored by Shinydocs

Jim Love, CIO, ITWC
Jed Cawethorne, Principal Evangelist at ShinyDocs

Closing Remarks

Fawn Annan, CEO & CMO, ITWC

Opening Remarks

Fawn Annan, CEO & CMO, ITWC and Co-Host Mat Pancha, Sr Director, IT Operations ITWC

Keynote Address

Grow West: The vision by Westerners for Western Canada over the next ten years is its ability to work and attract knowledge-based industries to create new jobs and reduce vulnerability to low commodity prices. Such outcomes lead to communities better connected to the innovation economy, regardless of size or location.

Lloyd Brierley, City Manager, The City of Lethbridge

FireSide Chat: A Focus on the City of Calgary

Jim Love, CIO, ITWC
Jan Bradley, Director/ Chief Information Technology Officer, The City of Calgary

A Message from Minister of Innovation and Technology

Nate Glubish, Alberta

Panel: Intelligent Cities in the Post-Pandemic World

Digital investment in our cities makes them more attractive, creating an opportunity to manage a post-pandemic environment via innovative technologies effectively. The panel will highlight Intelligent cities across the globe that are investing in sensors, IoT, digital twins, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence for better outcomes that incorporate lessons from COVID-19 and what the future might hold.

Moderator:
Fawn Annan, CEO & CMO, ITWC

Panelists:

Natalia Madden, Head of IT, County of Grand Praries
Jazz Pabla, CIO, City of Kelowna, BC
Bachar Khawajah, CIO, City of Burnaby, BC

Fireside Chat: Mobility enables the smart city – Sponsored by Cradlepoint

Jim Love, CIO, ITWC
Jason Falovo, VP and General Manager of CradlePoint Canada

Fireside Chat: Enabling a mobile government workforce – Sponsored by Citrix

Fawn Annan, CEO & CMO, ITWC
David Byerly, VP and General Manager, Citrix

Panel: Data-driven Strategies for Cities – Sponsored by VMware

Big Data technologies will change sustainable urbanism by bringing new and innovative ways of monitoring, understanding, analyzing, planning, and significantly improving performance for “data-driven smart sustainable cities.” The panel will discuss the complexities big data helps solve for development planning, operational management, and design strategies for Intelligent growing cities.

Moderator:
Mai Nguyen, Head of Government Relations and Public Policy for VMware Canada

Panelists:
Mike Palmer, CIO, Victoria
Marty Robinson, CIO and Dir of IT, City of Medicine Hat
Mario Lebar, CIO, University of Manitoba, MB

Panel: Enhancing the Citizen Experience using Security and Privacy – Sponsored by Ricoh

Technology and data serve the public good, create new risks, and mitigate threats. Security must be the constant shield of protection to avoid modern hazards that can bring down a citizen portal or a government defence application. This panel will explore the many options for keeping municipalities and stakeholders safe.

Moderator:
Richard Freeman, Certified Information Professional (CIP), ECM Portfolio Manager, Enterprise Workflow Solutions, Ricoh

Panelists:
Trevor Butler, GM & IT Digital Transformation, City of Lethbridge, AB
Darin Young, CIO, City of Delta, BC
Brad Labrenz, Chief Security Officer, City of Calgary, AB
Peter Holowka, Director of Educational Technology, Vancouver, BC

Fireside Chat: Understanding Your Data and the Opportunities that creates – Sponsored by Shinydocs

Jim Love, CIO, ITWC
Jed Cawthorne, Principal Evangelist, Shinydocs

Wrap Up

Fawn Annan, CEO & CMO, ITWC