Category: Public Sector

In August 2020, the AWS Public Sector Blog covered cloud workforce development, partner programs for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and minority-owned businesses (MOBs), and more.

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.

As the U.S. begins to rebound from the health and economic disruption, experts predict that the technology sector will help lead the way to job growth and economic recovery. The challenge is how and where to source the talent needed to fill in-demand jobs. As more companies embrace migration to the cloud, finding professionals with the specialized skills and expertise will be critical to business success. NPower is a national nonprofit with a mission to provide career opportunities and training to underserved populations including young adults, minorities, women, and veterans. In 2017, NPower partner Accenture proposed a new opportunity to develop a best-in-class cloud program with AWS.

As screen time dependence has increased, education technology companies (EdTechs) are looking for new ways to engage students and create a more natural interaction with their products. One way to do so is using voice technology to help students, teachers, and administrators stay informed, be productive, and create more meaningful learning opportunities. To help, the AWS EdStart and Alexa in Education teams are launching the AWS EdStart Voice Builder course and badge. The AWS EdStart Member exclusive offering can help EdTechs build voice-first experiences that create fun and engaging learning experiences, reach new users, and save time by streamlining access to their products with Amazon Alexa.

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.

Data lakes can help hospitals and healthcare organizations turn data into insights and maintain business continuity, while preserving patient privacy. A data lake is a centralized, curated, and secured repository that stores all your data, both in its original form and prepared for analysis. A data lake enables you to break down data silos and combine different types of analytics to gain insights and guide better business decisions. In my previous post, “Getting started with a healthcare data lake,” I shared how to get started using data lakes in managing healthcare data and what a good “first sprint” architecture might look like. Here, I walk through building your first solution on AWS using a healthcare data lake as our example workload.

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.

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) believes that technology is a powerful tool for driving results and innovation on campus. Their chief information officer, Mark Henderson, developed a task force—called the Data and Technology Innovation Lab—to identify department challenges and task individuals to build innovative solutions using technology. One area where UIUC identified an opportunity was sports analytics using machine learning (ML). Learn more about how UIUC was inspired by what they were seeing in professional sports, using data to shift their approach to coaching football.

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.