Category: Government

Demand for housing continues to increase, with demand outweighing supply. Nonprofits, including social housing organizations, work towards the mission of providing access to safe and affordable housing, rental assistance, and social services to low-income individuals and families in need. These organizations also play a critical role in supporting the elderly and vulnerable. And with homelessness projected to increase by 40-45 percent this year in the United States, these services are more in demand than ever. The cloud can help nonprofits that serve those in need while also driving innovation, saving costs, and speeding delivery of services. Learn how these AWS customers and partners are modernizing the way that mission-driven organizations provide housing assistance.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the National Science Foundation. It engages in large-scale Earth system science research projects in collaboration with the broader university community. NCAR hosts visitors from around the world, develops community models including the Community Earth System Model and the Weather Research and Forecasting Model, and maintains supercomputers, observational systems, and aircraft to support further study on the how the planet works. As part of the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative, we invited Dr. David John Gagne, machine learning (ML) scientist at NCAR, to share how open data and machine learning on AWS are impacting the way we predict and understand extreme weather.

Earlier today, the DoD announced it had concluded its corrective action and affirmed its prior JEDI contract award to Microsoft. Taking corrective action should have provided the DoD an opportunity to address the numerous material evaluation errors outlined in our protest, ensure a fair and level playing field, and ultimately, expedite the conclusion of litigation. Unfortunately, the DoD rejected that opportunity.

You’ve made the decision to migrate to the cloud and are ready to initiate the adoption process, but where do you begin? What foundational elements are necessary to ensure your cloud adoption is successful and sustainable? These are important questions to consider as state and local governments are increasingly turning to the cloud amid tighter IT budgets and shrinking revenues. However, cloud adoption is more than simply shifting from one technology to another. It involves transforming an entire business into a more agile, responsive, and innovative organization. There are many physical, environmental, and human elements that need to be considered and aligned to pave the way for real innovation. Take these steps to start building the foundation needed for successful and transformational cloud adoption.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations around the world are focusing on improving and speeding up testing and diagnostics. Digital health companies Smart Reporting in Germany and Thirona in the Netherlands have been working to create a CT-based imaging solution to support COVID-19 diagnosis, enabled by the cloud and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Diagnostic Development Initiative. The AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative provides support to organizations for innovation in rapid and accurate patient testing for 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and other diagnostic solutions to mitigate future outbreaks.

Artificial intelligence (AI) solutions are helping solve some of the biggest short- and long-term challenges within the public sector. But how can you quickly identify new AI-powered opportunities and use cases to solve unique and specific challenges within your organization? AWS AI and ML Week, taking place from September 14-18, includes seven curated webinars from introductory to expert level. Whether you’re new to AI or an experienced machine learning developer, attend our webinars and dive into some of the most common AI use cases for the public sector from this year.

In July and August on the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Fix This podcast, we heard from customers on their solutions for the classroom, in diagnostic research, for working from home, and in the great outdoors.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and related technologies including machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) can transform the way government agencies operate and enable them to provide improved citizen services. AWS Partner Network Partners have been working with AWS to accelerate solutions development using AI and related technologies for our public sector customers. To further assist partners in the acceleration of AI and ML, AWS is launching a new partner initiative: the AI and ML Rapid Adoption Assistance Initiative.

AWS Cloud Innovation Centers (CICs) focus on solving real-life societal challenges facing the public sector. These public-private partnerships between a public sector organization—like a university or local city—and AWS can help unlock innovation, faster. Through the CIC challenges, organizations and students work to solve societal problems through digital solutions and Amazon’s innovation processes while providing students a platform to learn. These solutions and results are published open source, so others can benefit from this innovative work. This past quarter, CICs worked on address Alzheimer’s, citizen services, and coronaviruses.

Launched in 2018 as a two-day in-person cloud education program for government officials, AWS has redesigned AWS DigiGov in a virtual format. AWS DigiGov is a two-day education program with curriculum based on the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner exam. Through lectures, cloud-based curriculum, and hands-on labs, participants representing federal, provincial, and municipal government learn to use the cloud within their environment and remove barriers to the cloud technology.