Author: AWS Public Sector Blog Team

In 2021, AWS announced global support for Girls in Tech, a nonprofit founded in 2007 dedicated to eliminating the gender gap in tech. Last week, AWS and Girls In Tech hosted an Evening with Experts event at Amazon HQ2 in Arlington, VA. The in-person event provided an opportunity for women in the local area to hear from public sector and public service technology experts on professional growth opportunities and partnerships to reshape the industry to be more equitable and efficient.

Recently, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a new funding opportunity for any principal investigator (PI) with an active award from the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering (CISE), for use of cloud services and technologies via CloudBank. PIs can submit requests for use of the AWS Cloud, on a rolling basis, with funding made available for the duration of one year. This is a first-of-its-kind opportunity for federally-funded researchers to explore the capabilities of the AWS Cloud, at no additional cost.

On Tuesday, May 24, Max Peterson, vice president of worldwide public sector at AWS, took the keynote stage at AWS Summit Washington, DC to share announcements, news, and stories of how our public sector customers are leveraging the cloud to deliver mission-critical outcomes. Three customer speakers joined him to share how they’re using AWS to get the agility, resilience, and security needed to keep pushing boundaries and driving impact.

On May 23-25, 2022, AWS will hold the AWS Summit Washington, DC at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC. The no cost, three-day event will include more than 300 breakout sessions, chalk talks, customer lightning talks, builders’ sessions, and more, with a focus on how to accelerate innovation in the public sector. If you’re planning on attending, or thinking about attending, here’s how you can make the most of your AWS Summit Washington, DC experience.

At the AWS Summit Washington, DC, vice president of worldwide public sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Max Peterson, will take the stage to talk about the public sector’s digital transformation and celebrate the pioneers who are breaking barriers and driving change. Max will share announcements, customer stories, and updates on initiatives that we hope will inspire you. The keynote on Tuesday, May 24 at 11:30 AM ET will also feature three AWS customer speakers who will share stories of how they’re leveraging the cloud to get the agility, resilience, and security needed to keep pushing boundaries.

Whether filing taxes, applying for student financial aid, seeking healthcare coverage, or receiving disaster support, every interaction with the federal government is an opportunity to strengthen the customer experience with rich citizen engagement and direct lines of feedback. But legacy technology, siloed data, lack of digital skills, and a one-size-fits-all design approach can limit the ability of government to meet the demands of their constituents. Using cloud technology and AWS can improve customer understanding, create personalized interactions, and modernize constituent experiences.

The theme of this year’s Earth Day is “Invest in our planet.” In celebration of this year’s theme, we want to highlight the important sustainability work featured in the AWS documentary series, Climate Next, which explores the ways organizations and communities in four distinct regions are investing in cloud-powered solutions to fight climate change.

Open data is helping researchers and nonprofit conservationists protect vulnerable species around the world. In celebration of Earth Day, we are shining a spotlight on two sustainability stories from the AWS Fix This podcast from AWS, a podcast exploring the ways people use technology to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

On March 31, the AWS Summit Brussels returned to the Egg in Brussels, Belgium, where Max Peterson, vice president of AWS worldwide public sector, and Isabella Groeger-Cechowicz, vice president of AWS worldwide public sector of EMEA sales, took the stage for the event’s keynote. They discussed how AWS is supporting customers with a dedication to data privacy and protection, sustainability, and social impact. Three customer speakers joined them onstage to share stories about how they use the cloud to drive impact for their missions. Read on for what you might have missed at the AWS Summit Brussels.

How will humans explore, experiment, and sustain long-term habitation in low Earth orbit (LEO)? Orbital Reef is the next generation space station currently in development to provide commercial and research space activities in LEO, as well as space tourism capabilities. Amazon Distribution and Fulfillment Solutions (Amazon) and AWS are helping Orbital Reef reimagine networking, logistics, and communications that will be an integral part of the next space station.