ICF 2025 Smart21 Summit

The Smart21 Communities of 2025 will be announced in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada – a 3-time Smart21 Community and 2-time Top7 Intelligent Community. Hamilton is a city of 520,000 people, known for industry, education and cultural diversity, having the third-largest foreign-born population in Canada.

Featuring a theme of Communities in Transition, this conference includes a full day of Plenary Sessions followed by an evening Awards Dinner Reception on March 6. The day before, attendees can also register for an optional Pre-Summit Community Tour, Indicators in Action, in and around local Intelligent Communities. The 5th will end with an evening Reception of the Arts at 7 Innovation Exhibition hosted at the Hamilton Technology Centre.

This event is being produced by Artefact Social and the Hamilton Technology Centre.

Theme: Communities in Transition

The realities of the current economic, social and political landscape have communities globally reeling with compounding crises of homelessness, drug addiction, healthcare and wealth inequality. Technology held the promise of helping communities deal with the underlying issues to support the ICF Community Accelerator Strategy social and cultural Factors for Engagement, Inclusion and Sustainability. To do so, technology must deliver on the economic Factors of Connectivity, Workforce and Innovation to inform, measure and improve decision making, the built environment and public policy. While many regions may have solved local broadband connectivity to residents, most have not, beyond a plethora of point solutions, found the way to stitch together recent connectivity, innovations and policies nor found the necessary workforce. There are however many successful communities in transition working toward solutions. Participants will learn what it means to fulfill the Accelerator Strategy Factors, build and connect the necessary infrastructure and how success impacts social wellbeing through a series of six panels of experts and two keynotes providing real world examples of how they are implementing solutions that drive the six key Factors.

Optional Pre-Summit Community Tour (5 March)

(8:00 AM - 8:00 PM)

Departing from the Sheraton Hotel at 8:00am, this tour takes attendees in and around local intelligent communities. Stops include Hamilton Health Sciences, Mohawk College Joyce Center for Partnership & Innovation, Burlington TechPlace, Burlington City Hall, McMaster Automotive Resource Centre and the Hamilton Technology Centre for an evening Reception and Art Gallery Opening.

Meals will be provided. The full tour agenda can be found by clicking here.

Space is very limited for this tour. Register Now to confirm your spot.

Plenary Agenda (6 March)

Morning Session (8:00 AM - 12:15 PM)

8:00 AM - 8:45 AM Registration and Networking

8:45 AM - 9:00 AM Welcome and Opening Remarks

9:00 AM - 9:45 AM Opening Keynote – Smart Density

Naama Blonder, Architect & Urban Planner, Co-Founder, Smart Density, https://smartdensity.com/

9:45 AM - 10:30 AM Panel 1: Unlocking Private Sector Development To Solve the Housing Crisis

Action around any major element of development is largely the purview of the private sector. Decision-making around issues like sustainability is almost entirely driven by finance and unlocking that investment is key to community building. Learn directly from industry building better communities to understand what’s necessary to meet targets for sustainability, inclusion, and engagement.

Jananee Savuntharanathan, Senior Consultant, Deal Advisory, Global Infrastructure Advisory – Cities, KPMG, https://kpmg.com/ca/en/home.html
Michelle Diplock, Principal Planner, Nethery Planning https://www.netheryplanning.ca/
Tony Cupido, Research Chair, Sustainable Building Technologies – Mohawk College, https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/
Moderator: Louis Frapporti, Partner, Gowling WLG, https://gowlingwlg.com/en

10:30 AM - 10:45 AM Break

10:45 AM - 11:30 AM Mid-Morning Keynote - Higher Education’s Role

Paul Armstrong, President Mohawk College, https://www.mohawkcollege.ca/

11:30 AM - 12:15 AM Panel 2: Building Better Infrastructure with AI and Cloud-based Risk and Knowledge Management

The risks and complications experienced throughout the infrastructure planning and development process can present challenges for getting things built. Advances in AI and cloud-based risk and knowledge management can help improve success. Meet real world companies who are delivering AI and ML models and are managing large scale projects with technology.

Conor O’Brien, CEO, dependbuild, https://dependbuild.com/
Jake Arsenault, CEO, Blackarcs Inc., https://www.blackarcs.org/
Eric Wolfe, Partner, KPMG https://kpmg.com/ca/en/home.html
Moderator: Doug McCollough, CEO, Color Coded Labs

Lunch Break (12:15 noon - 1:30 PM)

1:15 PM - 1:30 PM Lunch Sponsors Presentations – Hamilton Community Enterprises

Afternoon Session (1:30 PM - 5:30 PM)

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM Panel 3: Connecting the Intelligent Community

A truly connected community needs more than just fixed broadband – it requires reliable access everywhere. To achieve ubiquity connected community requires both an extensive fibre network and extensive wireless coverage. The deployment of WiFi and small, low-powered cellular access nodes (Small Cells) to address the range and density requirements of modern connectivity necessitates the proliferation of attachments to poles, buildings, and other infrastructure. Cities must work together with service providers to address the environmental and aesthetic concerns and facilitate safe and ubiquitous deployment.

Robert Petruk, Senior Global Product Manager, Duraline, https://www.duraline.com/
Ian Oliver, Technology and Project Consultant, Globema, https://www.globema.com/
Jeffrey Cowan, CEO, Hamilton Community Enterprises, https://www.hce.net/
Moderator: Rob McCann, President, Hamilton Technology Centre

2:15 PM – 3:00 PM Panel 3: Transit Oriented Development

Moving people throughout a community in an efficient and sustainable manner is a challenge for all communities and traffic is often cited as a frustration. To solve this problem, communities around the world build multimodal networks, but delivering in an efficient, affordable, and equitable manner means planning as a system. Hear from community leaders on the systems of transportation that provide the freedom and safety to promote quality of life.

Andrea Nemtin, CEO, Social Innovation Canada
Anthony Frisina, Founder, Above & Beyond
Cristina Alvarez Requena, CEO, Las Rozas Innova (Las Rozas de Madrid, Spain)
Moderator: Craig Cassar, Councillor, City of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

3:00 PM - 3:15 PM Break

3:15 PM - 4:15 PM Healthcare CEO Panel: Driving Better Health Outcomes

From simply expanding telehealth to employing Big Data and AI to improve the lives of patients, health research and innovation is helping improve diagnosis, prevention, and outcomes. This panel of local Hamilton/Burlington health CEOs will highlight their efforts to drive better downstream outcomes for communities.

Eric Vandewall, CEO, Joseph Brant Hospital
Tracey MacArthur, CEO, Hamilton Health Science
Dr. Mike Heenan, President, St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton
Moderator: Rob MacIsaac, Past President of Hamilton Health Sciences and Mohawk College, Past Chair Metrolinx, and former Mayor of Burlington

4:15 PM - 5:15 PM Mayors Panel: Success, Challenges, and Collaboration

Hear directly from regional Mayors as we explore their successes, challenges, and insights into how to collaboration with public and private sector partners.

Andrea Horwath, Mayor of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Jim Diodati, Mayor of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Martin Ritsma, Mayor of Stratford, Ontario, Canada
Marianne Meed Ward, Mayor of Burlington, Ontario, Canada
Robert Bell, Co-Founder, Intelligent Community Forum (Moderator)

5:15 PM - 5:30 PM Closing Remarks and Transition to Evening Reception

Evening Event 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM: Global Smart21 Announcement Reception

Notes:

The optional pre-summit tour on March 5th is not included in this agenda. This tour will explore the “Intelligent Community Indicators in Action” in and around the local communities of Hamilton and Burlington and requires separate registration. Stops include Hamilton Health Sciences, Mohawk College, Burlington’s Tech Place, Burlington City Hall, Cultivated B, and an Art Opening at the Hamilton Technology Centre. Meals will be provided.
The specific content within each panel and the selection of speakers are at the discretion of the event organizers, the panelists, and the moderators.