speaker photo

Alistair Croll (Host) (he/him)

Co-founder & Chair, FWD50

Alistair makes early-stage companies improve their go-to-market strategies, and works with some of the world’s largest firms on business model innovation. He also helps governments understand the impact of technology on society, ethics, and resiliency.

As an entrepreneur, Alistair co-founded Coradiant; the Year One Labs accelerator; and a variety of other startups. He has also launched and chaired some of the world’s leading conferences on emerging technology, including Startupfest, Strata, Cloud Connect, FWD50, Bitnorth, Scaletech, and more.

Alistair is the author of four books on technology and entrepreneurship, including the best-selling Lean Analytics, which has been translated into eight languages and is in its tenth printing in China. He speaks internationally on topics such as data science, innovation, scaling startups, digital government, AI, and applying critical thinking to technology. A graduate of Dalhousie University, he has also been a visiting executive on data science and critical thinking at Harvard Business School.

Sessions

Executive Cohort

Getting our Groove Back: How to start a movement for digital transformation

November 3, 20232:00 PM – 8:00 PM GMT+0
Canadian Center for Cybersecurity
With austerity everywhere, exhausted employees, and a sprint that's become a marathon, how does Canada regain momentum and deliver on its ambitious goals for a better society? See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

Channeling your inner salmon

November 6, 20232:00 PM – 2:35 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
Salmon live in the sea, but must travel hundreds of miles upstream to spawn. They're incredible jumpers, leaping tirelessly out of the water to climb rapids in the face of incredible hardship. See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

Tackling tech-debt for a cyber-resilient Canada

November 6, 20232:50 PM – 3:15 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
As organizations continue their digital transformations, they are challenged with tech debt. When legacy technologies linger, the complexity, support costs, and security risks increase, and systems become more vulnerable to cyber attacks. See More.
Networking

Coming soon!

November 6, 20235:00 PM – 5:00 PM GMT+0
See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

Why Societies Fail, and What To Do About It

November 7, 20232:00 PM – 2:25 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
As every society confronts issues stemming from growth (such as theft or taxation or defense) it creates new layers to deal with it (such as a judicial system, or revenue assessors, or armies) which further increase its costs—a pattern Joseph Tainter has tracked across several civilizations. See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

Generative AI: Fiction and reality

November 7, 20232:50 PM – 3:15 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
Governments want to work on what matters, and have a positive impact on the communities they serve. But delivering on that promise is complex, and often challenging. And while emerging technologies offer tantalizing promise, sometimes it's hard to distinguish fiction from reality. See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

Delivering a Digital Foundation for Canadian Citizens

November 7, 20234:05 PM – 3:30 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
Canadians are moving more of their government interactions online and have increasingly high expectations for what those digital services should look like, as revealed by VMware's recent Citizen Satisfaction Survey. Join us in this conversation with FWD50’s Alistair Croll, where we will share more about the survey insights and discuss what issues and technologies matter the most to Canadians as the process of modernization continues. See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

Canada's Digital Ambition: A conversation with Catherine Luelo

November 7, 20234:30 PM – 4:55 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
Delivering government in a digital age is using technology to bring people together – private and public sector – and working towards a common goal. The role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Canada is to provide guidance and chart the course to deliver easy-to-use and accessible digital tools for Canadians that provide simplified access to services and programs. See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

That's a wrap for the morning!

November 7, 20234:55 PM – 5:00 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
Find out what's in store for your afternoon. See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

Welcome back!

November 8, 20233:00 PM – 2:15 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
Join host Alistair Croll as we kick off the third and final day of FWD50! See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

AI, government, and the path to an augmented public sector

November 8, 20233:40 PM – 4:05 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
In this fireside chat, Google's John Cousens talks about the remarkable advances that generative AI has made in recent months. See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

That's a wrap for the morning!

November 8, 20234:55 PM – 5:00 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
Find out what's in store for your afternoon. See More.
Inspiring & Interacting

That's a wrap!

November 8, 20239:45 PM – 10:00 PM GMT+0
Main Stage
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.