Digitalization knows no boundaries. Canada's digital economy, or the economic activities related to the billions of online transactions that occur every day, is growing faster than the rest of the economy and is bigger than some of this country's largest industries.
While data continues to drive our world, there is still much more to learn about Canada's digital transformation and its impact on our society and economy. As a result, Statistics Canada is going beyond traditional social and economic measures to capture Canada's full economic portrait.
Join us on June 18, 2019, for a digitally-delivered panel discussion with a series of experts, who will shed light on the types of information needed to navigate this digital era and how, together, we can leverage the economic and social opportunities it presents.
When: June 18, 2019, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., followed by a 30-minute question and answer discussion.
Cost: Free
Registration is closed.
You can watch a recording of the event here: Canada 4.0: The Digital Transformation and its Impact on our Society and Economy.
Hosts
Statistics Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada
Moderator
Anil Arora
Anil Arora was appointed Chief Statistician of Canada in September 2016.
Mr. Arora has led significant transformational initiatives throughout his career, with experience and partnerships spanning all three levels of government, the private sector and international organizations, including the UN and the OECD. He has led projects on high-profile policy issues, legislative and regulatory reform, and overseen large national programs.
In 1988, Mr. Arora joined Statistics Canada where he served in several positions, including regional operations, corporate services and the redesign of the dissemination function. In 2000, he became Director of Census Management Office and subsequently the Director General responsible for all aspects of the 2006 Census. In this role, Mr. Arora led the most comprehensive redesign of the Program, including the introduction of an online questionnaire. Following the successful delivery of the 2006 Census he became the Assistant Chief Statistician of Social, Health and Labour Statistics from 2008 to 2010.
In 2009, Mr. Arora received the prestigious APEX Leadership Award in recognition of his exceptional leadership skills and management excellence.
In 2010, Mr. Arora joined Natural Resources Canada as Assistant Deputy Minister of the Minerals and Metals Sector, and in 2013 was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister of Science and Policy Integration. He moved to Health Canada in 2014, becoming Assistant Deputy Minister of Health Products and Food Branch and leading a complex organization overseeing regulation of food, drug and health products for Canada. He also served as chair of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities.
Mr. Arora attended the University of Alberta, where he earned a Bachelor of Science, followed by further education in computing science and management, including a graduate certificate in Advanced Public Sector Management at the University of Ottawa, and the Advanced Leadership Program at the Canada School of Public Service.
Panelists
Eric Santor
Eric Santor was appointed Advisor to the Governor of the Bank of Canada on Digitalization in March 2019. In this role, he leads the Bank's digitalization work, including research into the impact of digitalization on the economy and financial system. Mr. Santor also leads the initiative to incorporate technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and big data into the Bank's operations. This involves leveraging programs, such as Partnerships in Innovation and Technology, and the Bank's relationship with the Creative Destruction Lab.
Mr. Santor joined the Bank in 2001 as an economist in the former Monetary and Financial Analysis Department. He moved to the International Economic Analysis Department in 2003, where he assumed increasing responsibilities until becoming Managing Director in 2013. Before his appointment as Advisor to the Governor on Digitalization, Mr. Santor served as Managing Director of the Bank's Canadian Economic Analysis Department.
Mr. Santor's research has focused on issues relating to the incidence and effects of unconventional monetary policy; the international monetary system and global financial architecture; and, the impact of ownership structure on Canadian firms.
Mr. Santor was born in London, Ontario. He completed his BA in History and Political Science at Huron College, University of Western Ontario, and his PhD in Economics at the University of Toronto.
Erich H. Strassner
Erich H. Strassner is Associate Director for National Economic Accounts at the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Mr. Strassner oversees the calculation of official economic statistics that track the performance of the U.S. economy. These include the BEA's flagship economic measure, gross domestic product (GDP), and its major components such as consumer spending and business investment.
Mr. Strassner has led several new, innovative data projects. He shaped the creation of statistics measuring the fast-changing digital economy and capturing the effects of outdoor recreation activities on the country's economic performance. Mr. Strassner is leading efforts to explore economic measures beyond GDP to better gauge Americans' well-being.
He has received a number of awards for leadership and management, including U.S. Department of Commerce Gold and Silver Medals, the department's highest honors, and the Arthur S. Flemming Award for outstanding public service.
Mr. Strassner holds an MBA from the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and an M.A. in economics from The George Washington University.
Daniel Ker
Daniel Ker is an Economist in the Directorate for Science, Technology and Innovation at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Mr. Ker is co-author of Measuring the Digital Transformation: a Roadmap for the future, which the OECD launched, along with an online Toolkit, at its "Going Digital" Summit in March 2019. Together, these enable a holistic assessment of the digital transformation across OECD and BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), and identify areas for further development, setting out a roadmap for addressing measurement needs.
Prior to this, Mr. Ker led the team responsible for the research and development of the Statistics and Survey Framework at the OECD, having previously been responsible for work to capitalize R&D in the UK National Accounts. He was Co-Deputy Director of Public Sector Statistics at the UK Office for National Statistics.
Dr. Sarah Lubik
Dr. Sarah Lubik is Simon Fraser University (SFU)'s first Director of Entrepreneurship and Executive Director of the Chang Institute for Entrepreneurship, promoting the power of, and need for, interdisciplinary teams and commercialization of research to solve wicked problems. She is co-Champion of the Technology Entrepreneuship@SFU, a lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Beedie School of Business and a researcher in university entrepreneurship, including incubation, spin-outs, commercialization, entrepreneurial and innovation ecosystems. Her work as been featured in journals such as Long Range Planning, R&D Management and Innovation Management: Policy and Practice.
She has coordinated pan-European start up support programs focusing on key areas such as coaching, funding and clusters, is a certified expert business coach, and is the co-founder and marketing director of a high-tech start up: Lungfish Dive Systems. Sarah has been named one of Business in Vancouver's Top 40 under 40, an Innovation Leader and a Digital Innovation Leader by the Government of Canada in 2016 and 2018, respectively. She has been noted in BC Business magazine's Women of Influence issue and was named a finalist for the 2017 YWCA Women of Distinction in Education, Training & Development.
Sarah holds a BBA (Honours) from SFU and a Masters and PhD from the University of Cambridge.