Webinar: International Government Perspectives on Making Cross-Sector Collaboration Work
This webinar will explore how governments in Estonia and Canada are driving economic growth through effective cross-sector collaboration, and what the UK government can learn and adapt from their approaches.
Join us for an exclusive session featuring contributors to the report Delivering Economic Growth in Partnership: International Government Perspectives on Making Cross-Sector Collaboration Work. Our speakers, senior policymakers and experts from Estonia and Canada, will share how they are implementing strategies that bring together government, industry, and the wider civic ecosystem to boost innovation, accelerate green transition, and build long-term economic resilience.
Drawing on real-world experience, they will offer insight into how different countries are addressing the challenges of global competitiveness, ensuring sustainable and inclusive growth, and strengthening long-term capability for economic collaboration.
By joining us, you will:
- Gain key learnings on cross-cutting best practices — and understand the common pitfalls to avoid
- Explore how cross-sector partnerships and sustainable infrastructure investment can drive resilience, job creation, and lasting economic value
- Discover practical lessons for the UK and beyond on designing policy frameworks that enable fair, inclusive, and sustainable economic transformation
Speakers
Marie-Chantal Girard was appointed President of the Public Service Commission of Canada on January 2, 2024. She had previously served as Senior Assistant Deputy Minister, Employee Relations and Total Compensation, at the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada since June 2021.
Before joining the Treasury Board Secretariat, Ms. Girard held the position of Assistant Deputy Minister for the Pensions and Benefits Sector at the Office of the Chief Human Resources Officer since June 2019, and Vice-President, Policy and Communications, as well as various senior management positions at Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions and the Quebec Federal Council, where she liaised and coordinated horizontally with the federal community. During the 2000s, she worked on priority policy issues related to income security and homelessness at Human Resources Development Canada and the National Secretariat for Homelessness.
Over the course of her career, Ms. Girard has developed a regional, national and international perspective, including as Canada’s representative and Chair of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Regional Development Policy Committee, as well as during her years of work on labour market development and advocacy in the community and parapublic sectors.
Ms. Girard holds a PhD in labour sociology from the Université du Québec à Montréal, as well as a master’s degree in sociology and a bachelor’s degree in political science from Université Laval.
Sirli is a real-time economy enthusiast who has been leading projects in the field since 2016—initially in the private sector at the Estonian Association of Information Technology and Telecommunications, and from 2019 to 2025 at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, where she leaded the real-time economy area and later the Ministry’s Digital Economy Department. Under her leadership, topics such as the real-time economy, Eesti.ee services for entrepreneurs, the EU Single Digital Gateway, and better regulation have become top priorities for the Estonian Government. The common goal across all these areas is to simplify the lives of entrepreneurs and to create more value-driven services through higher-quality data. Over the years, Sirli has initiated and contributed to the implementation of numerous private- and public-sector projects both nationally and cross-border. She has also fostered several public–private cooperation formats that have led to new joint initiatives aimed at improving the business environment.
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