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Skaidra Puodžiūnas (she/her)

Director of Ontario Relations, Council of Canadian Innovators

Skaidra (pronounced "sky-dra") is Director of Ontario Affairs at the Council of Canadian Innovators. In her role, she spearheads CCI’s advocacy and engagement efforts with the Ontario government, with a primary emphasis on enhancing talent, capital, and customer access for Ontario's rapidly scaling companies. Her responsibilities include advocating for streamlined government approaches within the digital economy, such as facilitating agile procurement, intellectual property strategies, and promoting interoperable systems like data authorities. Skaidra is proud to support some of the world’s most innovative companies headquartered right here in Ontario, a province she calls home.
 
Previously, Skaidra worked across the Ontario Government serving as a Team Lead in Ontario’s Chief Corporate Information Office and a Senior Advisor at the Ontario Digital Service. She had the unique opportunity to directly support Ontario’s first Chief Digital and Data Officer and Ontario’s first Minister Responsible for Digital Government.
 
Lately, Skaidra is facilitating a series of Canada-Nordic-Baltic Innovation engagements with the goal of bringing Canadian innovators and policymakers across these regions closer together.
 

Sessions

Procuring

Buying ideas: Procuring public sector innovation from a global perspective

Procurement amounted to 14.6% of Canada’s GDP in 2021; this is hundreds of billions of dollars, and a meaningful force that shapes our economy. See More.