Building a Digital Generation at the First-Ever AWS Public Sector Summit in Brussels

Last week, we held our first-ever AWS Public Sector Summit in Europe. Customers from over 40 countries traveled to Brussels to hear from leaders across the public sector about how they use the cloud to build a digital generation.

Teresa Carlson, VP of Worldwide Public Sector at AWS, delivered a keynote highlighting how public sector organizations are taking on the role of “builders” on behalf of their citizens. Santillana, European Commission, and Skinvision took the stage to share how they are creating new citizen services, improving the delivery and performance of existing programs, and making data-driven decisions.

From transforming the way we educate the future workforce to saving 250,000 lives in the next decade through early skin cancer detection, our customers are on a mission to change the world.

• Santillana, one of the largest publishers in the Spanish language, is transforming the way curriculum is being delivered to students and innovating faster than ever before. The AWS Cloud allows Santillana to spin up thousands of servers in the click of a button, implementing education solutions in hours rather than months.
• The European Commission spoke about policy best practices for government organizations across the EU. They have created a framework to allow government organizations to align their IT objectives and procurement processes in a cloud-friendly way.
• Skinvision, a digital health startup, shared how their use of machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) has been able to increase the number of early skin cancer detections, resulting in better outcomes for patients. The SkinVision app analyzes and tracks changes in moles to help detect signs of skin cancer.

Technology is just one half of the digital transformation formula. The other half is the digital skills needed to realize the full potential of cloud and other digital technologies. We believe AWS has a role to play in closing this skills gap.

We announced a commitment to give access to AWS training programs, at no charge, to more than 100,000 people in Europe. This commitment builds upon our membership in the European Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition, which brings together Member States, companies, social partners, nonprofit organizations, and education providers to take action to tackle this lack of digital skills. We want to continue empowering Europeans with highly sought-after cloud computing and digital transformation skills.

AWS is also committed to helping entrepreneurs build the next generation of online learning, analytics, and campus management solutions on the AWS Cloud. We announced that AWS EdStart, a program designed to help startup educational technology (EdTech) companies build teaching and learning solutions on the AWS Cloud, is now available in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. AWS EdStart helps EdTech startups move faster by providing AWS Promotional Credits, community engagement, customized trainings, joint marketing opportunities, mentorship, and technical support. Since launching in early 2017, the program has issued over $2.5M in AWS Promotional Credits to help customers revolutionize the education industry. For more information, please visit the AWS EdStart program page, and see the Application page for complete regional availability.

We also announced that the AWS Institute has arrived in Europe. The AWS Institute provides an innovative forum for European and global leaders to address some of the world’s most pressing public challenges through technology. As we continue to grow the AWS Institute in Europe and roll out our training programs over the course of 2018, we look forward to meeting with more leaders across the continent and work together to keep writing the European digital story—together.

Thank you to VMware and Trend Micro for sponsoring our Summit in Brussels!

Watch all of the session videos from the Brussels Summit here.