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Open Data on AWS

Open Data Sponsorship Program

What the program offers

The AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program covers the cost of storing and sharing publicly available, high-value, cloud-optimized datasets on the Registry of Open Data on AWS.

Who should apply

This program is for data providers who want to:

Make data openly accessible

Remove barriers so researchers, developers, and organizations can analyze your data directly on AWS.

Optimize data for the cloud

Collaborate with AWS to develop cloud-native formats, tools, and techniques that make your data easier and cheaper to use.

Grow a user community

Build an engaged community of students, researchers, startups, and government agencies around your dataset.

Browse examples of sponsored datasets: Registry of Open Data on AWS.

What we look for

We evaluate datasets based on:

    Is the data well-documented, openly licensed, and in non-proprietary formats?

    Is the data (or can it be made) cloud-optimized for use with AWS-native services?

    Will you help users get started with tutorials, blog posts, or usage examples?

    Is there demonstrated interest in your dataset(s)?

How to apply

1. Submit your application

Submit your application at application.opendata.aws. Please review the Open Data Sponsorship Program Terms and Conditions before submitting an application.

2. Wait for review

We evaluate applications on a rolling basis.

3. Receive a decision

We communicate decisions generally within a two-week period.

After you're accepted

If accepted into the AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program, please see below for a high level overview of our onboarding process. For the full step-by-step guide, see the Onboarding Handbook for Data Providers (PDF).

Onboarding

A high-level overview of the process

    • Registry of Open Data entry — A YAML file submitted via pull request on GitHub describing your dataset. Refer to this video tutorial for a step-by-step guide to the process.
    • Descriptive documentation — A data dictionary, schema description, or README hosted at your institution's website or GitHub
    • Tutorial notebook — A Jupyter notebook based on our provided template that introduces users to your dataset and includes a community challenge

    Someone in your organization must agree to the Open Data Sponsorship Program Terms and Conditions. You can view the terms here and submit this form to sign the terms.

    Create a new AWS account used exclusively for hosting your dataset within the program. After creation of the new AWS account, we will send you an invitation to join our AWS billing organization. Learn how to create an AWS account here.

    • Use our CloudFormation template (located in our onboarding handbook) to create an S3 bucket with optimal settings (public read-only access, intelligent tiering, logging, and SNS notifications)
    • Upload your data