2016: A Year of Innovations (powered by the cloud)

Two thousand sixteen saw global moments impacted by the cloud: presidential elections, treating virus outbreaks, and even handling traffic after the Chicago Cubs won the World Series! As the headlines took note of how these events impacted the lives of people across the globe, cloud computing was working behind the scenes to keep these technology services always on, accessible, and easy to use. Whether for downloading images of the surface of Mars or plotting out the best route to work, the AWS Cloud helped global governments, educational institutions, and nonprofits innovate to deliver better services to citizens and students.

Take a look back at 2016 and how the AWS Cloud powered innovations in policing, health, smart cities, education, and more.

Cloud-Powered Policing

Law enforcement agencies depend on AWS for solutions across the AWS Partner Network (APN) to connect their communities and improve public safety. These solutions provide first responders with real-time data, making often difficult situations as transparent as possible before police arrive on the scene.

For example, sensor technology alerts police officers when gunshots are detected providing complete visibility that improves officer safety in the field. Read more about the future of policing in these blogs.

Cloud-Powered Health

Public Health officials use the AWS Cloud to build healthier communities. The cloud aids initiatives, like monitoring air and water quality or epidemic management, with the data needed to protect citizens. Smaller, more citizen-engaged projects, like assisted living, elderly care, and wearable health devices, help medical personnel deliver the best care to their patients.

Learn more about cloud-enabled innovation in personalized medical treatment in this e-book.

Cloud-Powered Smart Cities

While a “smart city” can mean many things, what makes a city smart remains the same: data. In a mobile-driven world, AWS can help cities of all sizes gather, store, and distribute data in the AWS Cloud. Cities can then make data-driven decisions, modernizing programs that deliver measurable results for citizens.

For example, through open data and cloud technology, Transport for London (TfL) was able to deliver new services to the public, impacting the 24 million daily commuters using the Tube, buses, roads, trams, and freight, which has led to improvements in reliability, customer experience, and significant cost savings.

Cloud-Powered Education

The AWS Cloud impacts all corners of a campus and beyond. The cloud sparks education innovation by helping to reduce costs, improve service delivery, and increase student access to education. Explore the Campus on a Cloud map to learn how and where universities use the cloud every day.

AWS has over 7,000 education customers globally using the cloud to solve challenges, including: disaster preparedness, scaling web applications during peak loads like enrollment or graduation, supporting faster time to research results, creation of a cloud-ready next generation workforce with AWS Educate, and improved student outcomes and persistence through learning analytics and big data analysis.

Beginning their cloud journey by moving their web environment to AWS, University of Maryland, College Park focused on becoming a campus with no data centers. Watch this video to learn how the university uses Amazon WorkSpaces to give students and faculty access to software anytime, anywhere, from any device.

As we ring in 2017, we look forward to the innovations our customers will deliver in the New Year.

Check out more of our customer case studies here.