Embrase — the team behind Startupfest, FWD50, and Scaletech — has been running events for a decade. In that time, we’ve worked hard to ensure that the diversity we want to see in the world is represented on stage. But as Rebecca pointed out last December, the real challenge is that even when event organizers …
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Is legislation now the only solution? By Alasdair Allan An (somewhat expanded) transcript of a talk I gave at the FWD50 conference on digital government held in Ottawa, Canada, in November 2019. I talked there about privacy, security, and machine learning. Some additional material has been added for context, nothing has been removed from the …
For the first time, we’re running a Regional Digital Government Summit as part of FWD50. It’s chaired by Hillary Hartley (Ontario’s Chief Digital Officer), Catherine Desgagnés-Belzil (Secrétaire adjointe à la transformation numérique et Responsable du Centre Québécois de l’Excellence Numérique(CQEN)), and Nikhil Deshpande (Chief Digital Officer, State of Georgia.) Aimed at public sector audiences, it’ll bring together dozens of municipal, provincial, and state-level …
Continue reading “The unique challenges of regional digital government”
When we launched FWD50, we had a few clear rules: No expo hall. The conference isn’t a tradeshow; our partners believe that a rising tide lifts all boats, and brings great content—and if they don’t, the audience can go elsewhere during the event. Nonpartisan. Our allegiance is to society as a whole; the “FWD” in …
Continue reading “What’s happening during Digital Government week in Ottawa?”
One of the most striking and consistent pieces of feedback from our 2019 content survey was this: We’ve drunk the Kool-Aid. Many people tasked with IT transformation are already true believers. They want to know how to manage digital innovation, and what to avoid to maximize success. And while technology training is useful, digital transformation is more than tools — …
Continue reading “A focus on culture and transformation at FWD50 2019”
Fifteen years ago, the term “cloud computing” was on the front page of every tech magazine. For that matter, fifteen years ago, we had tech magazines. Today, the term has almost lost its meaning in many IT conversations. We don’t say, “cloud storage”; we say “storage,” and assume on-demand, third-party-operated computing systems are part of that strategy. …
There’s plenty of debate over whether AI is real. The very definition of Artificial Intelligence keeps changing — show a computer scientist from 50 years ago a modern algorithm’s ability to drive a car, identify images, compose text, or diagnose diseases, and they’d immediately conclude that AI was here. A shot from the 2017 main …
The number of natural disasters humans face has grown in recent years: From Our World In Data (https://ourworldindata.org/natural-disasters) The good news is that the lives lost to such tragedies has dropped — thanks to better preparedness, improved communications, and new technologies to find and help survivors. Source: Our World In Data (https://ourworldindata.org/uploads/2018/04/Global-annual-death-rate-from-natural-disasters-01.png) Many of the …
Continue reading “Disaster, emergency, and climate at FWD50 2019”
Each year, we survey FWD50 participants to find out what they’re interested in learning, where their challenges are, and what technologies and policies hold the most promise in the coming months. We use this data to shape the content we run, the speakers we invite, and the questions on our Call for Proposals (CFP). You …
