Category: Public Sector

The IMAGINE: Nonprofit conference in Washington, DC brought together leaders, technologists, and mission-driven innovators in the nonprofit sector to learn, connect, and inspire. Over the course of the conference, attendees explored the ways technology helps nonprofits make a positive impact around the world. At the keynote, Dave Levy, vice president of US government, nonprofits, and healthcare at Amazon Web Services (AWS), and Allyson Fryhoff, managing director of nonprofits at AWS, highlighted how nonprofits are on the front lines of addressing some of society’s greatest needs, and how harnessing the power of data can be a force multiplier for change.

In my time working for the UK government’s Digital Marketplace as the service manager, I saw first-hand the benefits of open source in government. Combined with transparent processes, using open source solutions helped streamline digital project execution, build trust with constituents and the global community, and save time and money. Now, as the senior manager of government services (GovServices) at AWS, and as a teacher for the AWS Institute Executive Education Program, I want to share best practices for government leaders looking to use open source solutions.

To drive innovation and optimise operations in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud, UK public sector organizations need to transfer data quickly and safely, in accordance with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)’s guidance on how to configure, deploy, and use cloud services securely. The NCSC provides security guidance for protecting government systems, planning for cyber incidents, and more. In this post, we cover how you can configure AWS services—like AWS DataSync, AWS Storage Gateway, and AWS Transfer Family—to align your data transfer solution with the NCSC’s cloud security principles, as understanding these configurations is important to protect data and meet requirements for local force accreditation.

AWS plans to launch new AWS Local Zones across Latin America to contribute to the region’s economic diversification. The new locations include Bogotá, Colombia; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Lima, Peru; Queretaro, Mexico; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; and Santiago, Chile. AWS is helping to develop more resilient economies that promote long-term economic growth. The low-latency offered by Local Zones can make new use cases possible for public sector organizations.

The AWS Summit Brussels is back. On Thursday, March 31, 2022, the no cost, in-person learning conference will bring together cloud enthusiasts from the public and private sectors at The Egg in Brussels, Belgium. Join to deepen your cloud knowledge and learn about the power of cloud innovation to transform organizations and businesses around the world.

AWS is committed to enabling the nonprofit sector with cloud technology tools and nonprofit-specific resources to help them innovate and expand their impact. The AWS IMAGINE Grant is designed to support nonprofits pursuing high-impact, innovative technology projects with vital financial and technical resources. Now in its fifth year, the program offers two distinct award categories for nonprofits to receive support based on their organizational goals and stage of their technology adoption journey. The application is available to download today.

As AI and ML becomes more ubiquitous and simple to use, EdTech companies and startups around the world are unlocking the benefits of these technologies, particularly when it comes to personalizing learning content for a learner or educator’s specific needs. Learn how EdTech startups and AWS EdStart Members are using AI and ML to help revolutionize the education industry. 

On March 16, I had the honor of kicking off the Build(Her) Conference in Washington, DC, a co-hosted Halcyon and AWS event, along with Kate Goodall, Halcyon co-founder and chief executive officer (CEO). First launched in 2020, the Build(Her) Conference brings together women leaders and entrepreneurs from both the public and private sectors to share ideas, network, and hear from speakers on topics like government innovation, fundraising and growing companies, resilience, and more.

To better understand the rapidly evolving workforce landscape and help our customers address barriers to digital skilling, AWS commissioned the strategy and economics consulting firm AlphaBeta to examine the skills needs of organizations across Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Korea. In this blog post, we outline key insights from the report, “Building Digital Skills for the Changing Workforce,” and provide examples for how governments, employers, training providers, and the technology industry can come together to meet this challenge.

A research team led by Dr. Beatriz Martinez Lopez at UC Davis supports pig farmers with a data analytics platform that aggregates and analyzes animal health data to diagnose animal viruses and diseases. But this platform was primarily designed for analysts and data scientists. To truly transform animal disease management, Martinez-Lopez wants to put this data analytics tool into the hands of farmers around the world. So the research team is using the scalable, cost-effective tools of the AWS Cloud, along with a research grant letter of support from AWS, to make this optimized platform a reality.