Gunjan Syal
Building Connected Communities: Lawrence Eta - CTO, City of Toronto

I hope you're enjoying a safe and innovative start to 2022!
Last year, I shared a window into my recent professional journey from transforming one client enterprise at a time, to an ecosystem-wide innovation focus. During this journey, I had the honour of meeting and working with leaders that inspire ecosystem growth for a long-term positive impact to the society. These leaders enable positive changes with every initiative they champion and every decision they make. This is a deeper commitment based on strategic investments and consistent leadership. Their goal is to enable long-term solutions for real positive impact to the society. These solutions are designed to enable well-being and sustainable lives for the next seven generations in our communities.
Lawrence Eta is one of these futuristic and inspiring leaders. Lawrence is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at my very own city, the City of Toronto (awesome Canadian city, eh?). Lawrence and his team have been supporting Torontonians since September 2017. Lawrence is a multi-national business and technology leader with more than 20 years of experience in guiding operations and technology sectors through big transformations. He is a change agent capable of designing and implementing complex and impactful business strategies.
Lawrence and I discussed the City of Toronto's recent evolution. This includes the City's important work during the pandemic to ensure the safety of its residents, and the new Digital Infrastructure Plan (DIP). Watch the conversation below and learn more about the DIP.
Lawrence: "Toronto is a city that puts the community first and drives change, transformation and innovation".
If you enjoyed this conversation, join the global transform this community for future editions of 'Transformation to Innovation'.
The goal of DIP is to enable a connected community. Below is a brief summary of the DIP. More information is available at this link from the City of Toronto: https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/long-term-vision-plans-and-strategies/smart-cityto/digital-infrastructure-plan/
What is a connected community?
At the City of Toronto, a connected community will be built using processes, tools, data and technology to optimize resources and enhance the quality as well as accessibility. It will increase the performance of urban services, economic competitiveness and engage residents, businesses and visitors more effectively. Ultimately, it will be a digitally connected community, working to support holistic needs of the residents.