7:30am-9:30am AEDT

Government 4.0: From AI to Connected Citizen Services
Lessons from the Former CIO of the Government of Canada on scaling digital government with confidence

Guest Speaker: Alex Benay, Former Chief Information Officer, Government of Canada and Senior Vice President, Public Sector Practice, OpenText

As agencies move beyond AI experimentation and towards enterprise-scale adoption, leaders are increasingly challenged with ensuring trusted information, digital sovereignty and public confidence keep pace with technological change. 

Join Alex Benay, former CIO of the Government of Canada and current SVP, Public Sector Practice at OpenText, for an executive discussion on Canada’s cloud-first transformation, AI governance journey and digital sovereignty lessons — and what they mean for Australian agencies looking to scale AI with trust, security and public confidence. 

Discussion Themes 

Sovereign Agentic Government: From AI Experimentation to Public Service Transformation 
How governments can move from isolated AI pilots to trusted, scalable, citizen-centric services while maintaining transparency, accountability, and control.  

Building the Secure Information Foundation for Government 3.0–4.0 
How agencies can activate trusted knowledge across fragmented systems, data, and content while ensuring privacy, security, governance, and compliance remain foundational to AI-enabled service delivery.  

Lessons Learned: Cloud-First, AI Governance and Digital Sovereignty 
Insights from Canada's journey in cloud adoption, AI governance, and sovereignty, and what these lessons may mean for the next generation of government transformation.