‟FWD50 is an opportunity to work on my job—asking why I do what I do, and whether that is changing—rather than in it.”

Technology shapes every facet of modern life. But will it hurt or help us?

Too often, technological advancement is either demonized as a job-stealing, privacy-violating terror; or beatified as a panacea come to rescue us from our worst selves. But there’s a middle ground—a way forward that shapes technology to benefit us, building the kind of society we want atop it.

In the immediate future, tech can streamline the way countries govern today, improving antiquated processes and updating how citizens and the government interact at every level. In the long term, it lets us reimagine what’s possible for nations, anticipating pitfalls while putting the best innovations to work.

But we must not sit idly by and let the future happen to us. We must shape it. It must be used by us, not just on us. And that’s why we launched FWD50 in 2017.

FWD50 explores this transition, marrying policymaking, technology, ethics, and invention.

Because it’s time for some forward thinking.

FWD50 throughout the years

From the outset, FWD50 was a global event that brought many countries together in new and unexpected ways:

• In 2017, FWD50 included the participation of six countries.
• In early 2018, partly as a result of those conversations, Canada joined the Digital Nations, with whom we’re now partnering on content. We also introduced the Circlesquare interactive format.
• In 2019, FWD50 added a Regional Digital Government Summit; months later, regional Chief Digital Officers continue that conversation at regular meetings.
• In 2020, we welcomed the Digital Nations and members of the global Civic Tech movement, and demonstrated new ways to connect virtually that have since been adopted within governments worldwide.

Our manifesto

Check out our manifesto on digital government, or read our latest posts on Medium where we explore the challenges and opportunities of tech and society.

The team

We’re an all-Canadian team of event organizers and technologists behind some of the world’s most influential technology events. For us, FWD50 is a labor of love—a chance to put the most important conversations of a generation front and centre, and to bring the incredible power of technology to bear on society’s thorniest problems.

We learn from you

Every year, we survey the digital government community in Canada and abroad, and get a tremendous amount of insight into how best to run future events. Many of the changes we’ve made in past years are a direct result of such feedback. We want this to be a collaborative experience; we can’t talk about making society better for all without including everyone.

We take content really seriously. We’re flexible about most other things. And we want to create memorable experiences that give audiences permission to think out loud, outside their usual constraints, because that’s how change will happen.