The City of Toronto and Nordic cities share an interest in the environment and are facing the same challenges, sharing many similarities in terms of climate, population growth as well as a similar business culture.

Conference & Matchmaking

CanNord 2011 is a conference and matchmaking event, covering a broad spectrum of solutions for sustainable urban centres, energy systems and cleantech solutions from both Canada and the Nordic countries.

This two-day event hosts a combination of plenary sessions and workshops that examine how government, municipalities and organizations can incorporate green thinking into their projects and operations, and how to identify, initiate, and strengthen collaboration opportunities.

Organizers

The event is hosted by the Embassies and Trade Commissions of Sweden, Norway and Denmark, in cooperation with the Nordic Council of Ministers and the City of Toronto. This unique conference introduces and unites the most promising innovators and leaders from the Nordic region and the Toronto region.

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Speakers

Morning Speakers

Session: The Nordic Experience
Halldor Asgrimsson, Secretary General for Nordic Council of Ministers
Halldór Ásgrímsson, former Icelandic Prime Minister, is the new Secretary General for the Nordic Council of Ministers as of 1 January 2007. Halldór Ásgrímsson is looking for Nordic co-operation to be closer to Nordic citizens and their everyday lives.

Session: Municipal Planning Strategies
Christopher Hume, Architecture Critic and Urban Issues Columnist at Toronto Star
Christopher Hume is the architecture critic and urban issues columnist of the Toronto Star. Since he started writing for the paper in 1981, Hume has been nominated for four National Newspaper Awards (critical writing category) and has received a certificate of appreciation from the Ontario Association of Architects.

Pekka Sauri, Deputy Mayor of Helsinki

Tina Saaby, Head of City Planning, Copenhagen - Invited

Gary Wright, Chief Planner & Executive Director of City Planning, City of Toronto - Invited

Session: Solutions for Sustainable Northern City Life
Daniel Leeming, Founding Partner at The Planning Partnership
Dan is a founding partner of The Planning Partnership and has worked on the design and development of new towns and various sizes of planned communities for private and public agencies throughout Ontario and the United States over his 35 years of experience.

Eric Freudenthal, Head of Communications, Hammarby Sjöstad
Mr Erik Freudenthal is the Head of Communications of the Environmental Information Centre for Hammarby Sjöstad GlashusEtt, which is situated right in the middle of Hammarby Sjöstad.

Geoffrey Cape, Executive Director at Evergreen
Geoff is the founder of Evergreen and has been its Executive Director since its inception in 1990. Under Geoff's leadership, Evergreen as a Canadian charity has grown to include over 1200 staff and offices in Toronto and Vancouver.

Helle Soeholt, CEO, Gehl Architects - Invited

Break-Out Session: Is it Greener to Build New or to Renovate?
Graeme Stewart, Associate, ERA Architects
Graeme Stewart is an Associate with ERA Architects. Graeme has been involved in numerous urban design, cultural planning, conservation and architecture projects with particular focus on neighbourhood design and regional sustainability.

Holger Dahl, Head of Communications, Arkitema K/S

Klas Berglöf, CEO, ClimaCheck Sweden AB

Break-Out Session: District Energy
Dr. José Etcheverry, President at Canadian Renewable Energy Alliance and Assistant Professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
José is a member of the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University and also a research and policy analyst for the David Suzuki Foundation, where he has published research on renewable energy (Smart Generation: Powering Ontario with Renewable Energy) and on energy efficiency (Bright Future: Avoiding Blackouts in Ontario).

Richard Damecour, Vice-President, FVB Energy Inc., and Vice-Chairman of the Board at Canadian District Energy Association (CDEA)

Afternoon Speakers

Break-Out Session: Future Buildings in Northern Climate
Virpi Mikkonen, Senior Technology Advisor, Tekes, Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation
Mrs Mikkonen is head of Sustainable Community programme at Tekes aiming at promoting energy efficient and environmentally sustainable communities and create new business models, service concepts, system solutions and technology solutions.

Natalia Hahn, Sustainability Manager, IKEA Canada

Lars-Eric Sjoberg, VP Product & Business Development, Glenbarra Energy Management Corp.

Sean Monclus, Commercial Manager of Envac Systems Canada Inc.

Michael Christensen, CEO, Christensen Architects  - Invited

Break-Out Session: City Transportation Solutions
Kazunori Kojima, Energy Policy Analyst at International Energy Agency (IEA)
Kazunori Kojima, a Japanese national, is an energy policy analyst at the IEA. Kazunoris expertise in transportation contributes to the IEAs work on energy efficiency policy and implementation in this area.  

Tyler Hamilton, Business Columnist at the Toronto Star
Tyler Hamilton is an author, blogger and business columnist with the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily-circulation newspaper. He writes a weekly column for the paper called Clean Break that focuses on trends and
developments in the clean technology and renewable energy markets.

Antoine Belaieff, Director Innovation, Metrolinx

Ministry of Industry, Iceland

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