About the 7th Intelligent Cities Summit

Aruj Haider
Westminster City Council, UK
Teppo Rantanen
City of Tampere
Hifazat "Faz" Ahmad
Intelligent Cities Summit
Dr. Philip DesAutels
Tondo Smart Ltd.
Rebecca Carvalho
Town of Caledon
Don Barry
FAHM Technology Partners

Held on October 24 - 25, 2023 at The Boulevard Club, Toronto

Thank You for Coming to the 7th Edition of Intelligent Cities Summit

For the last seven years, the Intelligent Cities Summit has become synonymous with thought-provoking discussions on digital transformation in the public sector and this year was no exception.

Our 7th Intelligent Cities Summit featured more than 90 speakers and 150 distinguished guests from more than 10 major metropolis, public sector organizations and innovative companies from around the globe.


This summit was dedicated to showcasing exemplary intelligent city practices and emphasized the pivotal role of technology in establishing efficient public services, both in North America and on a global scale.

Here we delved into discussions on smart infrastructure, data analytics, IoT, and AI-driven solutions. Our experts tackled challenges such as pollution and waste management by harnessing data-driven insights.

I thank all our speakers, sponsors and delegates for their support at the Intelligent Cities Summit Canada on October 24 - 25, 2023.

I look forward to welcoming you at our next summit in Detroit.

Sincerely,

Hifazat “Faz” Ahmad. MBA.CEO & President
Intelligent Cities

Summit Highlights

Global Perspectives

Municipal and federal leaders from around the world shared their perspectives on intelligent services, drawing from both their completed projects and future initiatives.

Regional Leaders

A diverse array of Canadian speakers at this event provided a distinctive outlook of Intelligent North America. Insights were gained from leaders who were actively achieving success in Canada and the United States, discovering the challenges they confronted.

Cross-border Networking

A two-day summit packed with national and international municipal speakers, solution providers. Participants engaged in insightful discussions and got the chance to meet decision-makers, networking, and establishing fruitful relationships.

By the Numbers

Attendee breakdown

70.5 %
are public sector, municipal, non-profit, and government.
86.5%
are Managers, Directors and C-suite.
9 in 10
had very good or excellent value from the event.
93%
would recommend the event to a colleague.

Our Intelligent Cities Summit 7th edition witnessed a global participation from 150 + attendees, 60 speakers from cities across North America and major metropolitan cities around the globe.

What People Enjoyed Most

“…thanks for hosting a great event. It was good to connect with Health & IT Professionals from different sectors. Location was good, food was great, presentations were amazing and your team was wonderful. So thank you for that! Now I am back in the office and hoping to share the learnings from the event with our team so we can keep the momentum going.”
Amit Joshi
IT Manager
AdvantAge Ontario: Advancing Senior Care
This event has really timely given the announcement of the federal smart city challenge and all the municipalities across Canada have started thinking about Intelligent cities, Smart cities and Future cities. This summit seemed like a good one as it brought all of the players to one place where we can meet and talk about the future of cities. We met tons of great people and it was a good agenda too.
Justin Trevan
Digital Leader
Arup Canada
We decided to join the summit because of the delegates attending the conference. We were really impressed by the quality of people and the interactions that we were able to have with them. We will be attending the summit next year for sure.
Alexander Gauthier
VP of Marketing
Amilia
We really see this conference has been the type of place where our industry needs to be, to understand where the cities are trying to get to and the technologies that they are considering using. We really have gotten a great deal out of this event. This has really been a worthwhile time for our company.
Gibran J. Hadj-Chikh
Director of Innovation Transport
Parsons
Fantastic audience participation and one of the better secessions I have seen this year in terms of audience interaction. The event has been absolutely fantastic.
Tracy Fleming
Senior Technologist
Office of the CTO, Avaya
This has been a fabulous and a very high quality event for us. A lot of really excellent decision makers have been here and we have had some excellent and very productive conversations. This has been a very worthwhile summit for us and we would recommend it to anyone who is looking to come.
Leah Hanvey
Business Development Manager
UrbanLogiq
I found this conference a really excellent opportunity to hear from thought leaders and practitioners across the country, in how that are contemplating the future of digital and our communities.
Sandra Singh
Chief Librarian
Vancouver Public Library
Great event in Toronto, bringing together leaders from all over Canada, both business leaders and city leaders, probably the most city leaders I have ever seen at a conference like this, to really talk about intelligent cities, what they are and what the future of them will be. The ultimate goal and the impact of this summit is better learning between cities and business on the future - how we can may not future proof cities but be future ready.
David Graham
Deputy COO
City of San Diego
Great opportunity to see who is working with who in the smart city market place and to understand just the general direction where cities are headed. Really appreciate the opportunity to come here and network with colleagues and also learn more about what’s happening right across the country.
Jesse Adcock
CTO
City of Vancouver
I got to listen to great content from great leadership about Smart Cities and Big Data transformation. Heard about various cities’ approach in utilising data to insure we are making citizen experience and the life of citizens much more user centric and user friendly. Thank you very much, I look forward to seeing you in future years.
Lawrence Eta
Deputy Chief Officer
Interesting to listen to global cities and smaller cities speaking about their experience and opportunities in the intelligent city space and also the work private sector is doing in this vertical. All in all, its been a great conference and I am looking forward to next year.
Gary Kent
Commissioner and CFO
City of Mississauga
“I wanted to take a moment and sincerely thank IoT Events and their amazing team for converting this years Intelligent Public Sector Showcase into a business model to support virtual conferences in the COVID environment. Trying to maintain any sense of continuity and comfort through such upheaval is difficult. However your team excelled and provided competent world class informative summits that ensured this Showcase addressed public sector needs and circumstances. This event is yet another in the growing line of successful virtual conferences that are essential to the sustainability of the public sector.”
Monique Belair
Deputy Fire Chief
Oakville Fire Department
“I was fortunate to have been involved with the 2021 IoT as a panel speaker, and attendee. I appreciated the nature of the rapid fire high level sessions / discussions and the ability to connect virtually for questions and comments throughout. As a panelist, it was a pleasure to be connected with professionals from around the globe and hear diverse perspectives as related to common issues in Emergency Services.”
Tyler Pelke
Deputy Chief of Emergency Services
The City of Red Deer
“I found the sessions relevant and up to date regarding the challenges in developing smart cities and the opportunities and benefits their realisation will bring. I particularly enjoyed the panel sessions and gained a lot from the discussions. It was worthwhile attending and I am looking forward to registering for future events.”
Garry Scobie
Deputy CISO
The University of Edinburgh
“ It was an honour to speak at the IoT, Big Data Intelligent Cities Summit. The event was excellent, the speakers were terrific and the networking program was extremely beneficial. The Summit is a must attend event for anyone hoping to gain insights into how technology can benefit your organization. For those wanting to lead through the technology revolution, the Summit is an opportunity to discover new technologies, connect with experts in the field and chart a course for the future. Looking forward to seeing you at next year’s event.”
Rob Adams
Chief Administrative Office
Town of Stouffville
“I appreciated the opportunity to join from Victoria, Australia the Intelligent Public Sector Showcase event as a panellist for IoT events with likeminded thought leaders from around the world sharing experiences and challenges. The panel conversation was a great opportunity to share innovative, collaborative and transformational thinking with esteemed colleagues. It was also a great opportunity to attend sessions by keynote speakers and panellists on many areas of interest in public safety emergency communications and other topics relevant to the digital transformation journey upon which we are embarking at the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority in Victoria, Australia. A truly inspirational conference – thank you.”
Marty Smyth
Chief Executive Officer
Emergency Services Telecommunication Authority
“I was honored to be part of the IOT People First Summit. In addition to the opportunity to share and influence some of the great work that is being done in the HR field, being a speaker helped me to expand my networks in a meaningful way. Excellent public service is so important, and different levels of government working together improves the lives of the citizens that we serve.”
Patrick Faulkner
Chief Human Resources Officer
Western Economic Diversification Canada

2023 Speakers

Aruj Haider

Westminster City Council, UK

Teppo Rantanen

City of Tampere

Hifazat "Faz" Ahmad

Intelligent Cities Summit

Dr. Philip DesAutels

Tondo Smart Ltd.

Rebecca Carvalho

Town of Caledon

Don Barry

FAHM Technology Partners

Dr. Harith Abdulsattar

McMaster University

Jostran Lamontagne

Dimonoff

Rory Burke

Government of Ontario

Dave Buchanan

HCLTech

Andrew Miller

Hatch

Brian Sweet

Convergint

View all our 2023 speakers

Are You Interested In Speaking?

For the last 7 years, Intelligent Cities Summit had Senior Level speakers from North America, and around the globe.
‍
If you’re interested in speaking at the Summit, make sure to submit your speaker application through the process of contacting us.

Contact us

Thank you to our 2023 sponsors

See the full list

2023 Agenda Highlights

Some of our favourite sessions from the summit

City Spotlight: Atlanta Department of Public Works 2023

  • Navigating advancing operational challenges
  • Overcoming paper-based processes
  • Mobile app for performance measurement
  • Redefining efficiency in routing vehicles and allocating resources

Alfred Wiggins

Commissioner, Department of Watershed Management
City of Atlanta

Anou Sothsavath

Deputy Commissioner of Watershed Management - Operations
City of Atlanta

Stefanie D. Grant

Division Chief, Department of Law - Operations Division
City of Atlanta Department of Law’s Operations Division

Kentorri Garmon

Commissioner
Department of Public Works - City of Atlanta
Moderated by:

Hifazat "Faz" Ahmad

President
Intelligent Cities Summit

Panel: Reimagining Downtowns 2023

Justin Ratcliffe

Economist & Research Analyst
ICTC

Giulio Cescato

Director of Planning and Urban Design
City of Markham
Moderated by:

Hifazat "Faz" Ahmad

President
Intelligent Cities Summit

Panel: Accessibility & Inclusion 2023

  • Creating equitable leadership 
  • Opportunities for women, minorities to lead
  • Reimagining culture and leadership 
  • Living vision and mission statements
  • Bridging the gaps for a liveable community
  • Why representation matters

Visha Sukdeo

Associate General Counsel
Toronto Transit Commission

Rory Burke

Director, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities
Government of Ontario
Moderated by:

Philip Rizcallah

Chief Executive Officer
Accessibility Standards Canada

Panel: Humanizing Tech Cities 2023

  • Ease of accessibility on the go
  • Ways to reduce human errors 
  • Servicity and auxiliary: co-creation and partnership

Maimunah Jaffar

Director Lead Technology & Innovation
Iskandar Regional Development Authority, Malaysia

Marco Palermo

Director, Digital Govt and Modernization
City of Toronto

David Graham

Chief Innovation Officer
City of Carlsbad
Moderated by:

Mike Melinyshyn

CFO, Director of Corporate Services & Innovation
Town of Innisfil

Panel: Digital Transformation 2023

  • Reality v.s. Utopia
  • Governments improvising services
  • Creating learning hubs
  • Challenges and opportunities

Patrick McCormick

Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Department
City of Cambridge, Massachusetts, US

Dave Buchanan

Director, Public Sectors, Canada
HCLTech

Teppo Rantanen

Executive Director, Growth, Innovation, and Competitiveness
City of Tampere
Moderated by:

Giulio Cescato

Director of Planning and Urban Design
City of Markham

DAY-1  |  10:30 AM

Panel: Planning with Intelligence

Intelligent cities integration
Characteristics of growing cities
Tools for implementation

Aruj Haider

Chief Digital and Innovation Officer
Westminster City Council, UK

Andrew Buss

Deputy CIO
City of Philadelphia

DAY-1  |  11:30 AM

Panel: Digital Transformation

Reality v.s. utopia
Governments improvising services
Creating learning hubs
Challenges and opportunities

Patrick McCormick

Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Department
City of Cambridge
Moderated by:

Teppo Rantanen

Executive Director, Growth, Innovation, and Competitiveness
City of Tampere

DAY-1  |  3:00 PM

Panel: Input-Driven Living

AI learning residents' behaviours and adapting
Intelligent traffic system
Intelligent adaptation
What’s the hurdle? Policy, mindset or tech?

Teppo Rantanen

Executive Director, Growth, Innovation, and Competitiveness
City of Tampere

Jenny Alfandary

President and CEO | Board Director | Professor

Patrick McCormick

Chief Information Officer, Information Technology Department
City of Cambridge

DAY-2 |  10:00 AM

Panel: Provincial, City, Municipal

How intelligent government works?
Redefining roles and responsibilities
Who is driving intelligent cities?
Responsibilities v.s. accountability

Maimunah Jaffar

Director Lead Technology & Innovation
Iskandar Regional Development Authority, Malaysia

Chen-Yu Lee

Director, Taipei Smart City Project Management Office
Taipei Smart City Project Management Office
Moderated by:

Jenny Alfandary

President and CEO | Board Director | Professor
View the full day 1 agendaView the full day 2 agenda

Intelligent Cities Canada Summit

MAKE CITIES INTELLIGENT - INNOVATE & TRANSFORM

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Interested in next year?

If you have any questions or inquiries, we would love to hear from you. Please send us an email or give us a call.

Intelligent Cities Team

info@fazinc.net
+1 (416) 597 5751

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