AWS Public Sector Blog
Category: Public Sector
Announcing the AWS Clean Energy Accelerator for startups
Addressing climate change requires innovation across the world, across industries, and across startups and multi-national corporations. From distributed energy to storage solutions to efficiency and optimization software—clean technology investment and innovation is surging. With this surge in demand comes a rapid proliferation of startups working to solve today’s biggest energy challenges. To help foster this innovation, AWS is launching the AWS Clean Energy Accelerator.
We Build it Better empowers middle school students with engaging STEAM education
Children become aware of traditional careers at a young age. But the careers in modern science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics (STEAM) that are likely to be among the most in-demand when the children enter the workforce aren’t traditionally introduced to younger students. Many cloud occupations are absent in the aspirational pathways commonly discussed in STEAM education. Aspiring tech students are not aware of the full breadth of cloud jobs that exist, and are often pushed a narrow view limited to coding, video game production, and software development. To address these gaps, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Flight Works Alabama (an Airbus Americas 501c3) created the program We Build It Better.
Using AI to rethink document automation and extract insights
The maturing of artificial intelligence (AI) has brought ready-made services that organizations can use, not only to automate data entry work but also to apply intelligence into the business process. Using modern AI capabilities on AWS, organizations can transform approaches to document management. This allows public sector organizations to save time (enabling faster throughput especially during higher volume paperwork times), so they can help get constituents their services faster, and focus on the most valuable work of the high-touch or high-need cases. Document automation helps reduce human entry error and provide backup services in case of natural disaster.
Now available: Expanded funding for nonprofits with the 2021 AWS Imagine Grant
Nonprofits have found themselves thrust into a digital-first landscape, with an increasing demand for virtual or remote services for beneficiaries, donors, volunteers, and staff. During the COVID-19 pandemic, nonprofit organizations put forth tremendous effort to fill gaps unmet by the government and private sectors for our communities. Nonprofits have shown agility in their pivot to online events, remote service delivery, sharing of data and research, and more. To help nonprofits access the best-in-class tools provided by AWS, today we are launching the 2021 AWS Imagine Grant program. Guidelines and instructions on how to apply for this year’s cycle are available today.
Rush University Medical Center creates COVID-19 analytics hub on AWS
Rush University Medical Center embraced cloud transformation for internal operations and organizational needs as well as in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rush analytics team worked with the city of Chicago department of public health to create a working reference implementation of a cloud-based public health analytics hub. This hub aggregates, combines, and analyzes multi-hospital data related to patient admissions, discharges and transfers, electronic lab reporting, hospital capacity, and clinical care documents of COVID-19 patients receiving care in and across Chicago hospitals.
Using the cloud to get rental assistance quickly to those in need
Even before the pandemic, many people were rent burdened, with a quarter of renters paying more than half their income on rent. US Congress approved two bills containing $45 billion for emergency rental assistance programs (ERAP) that states and local governments can use to support people in need. Distributing these funds quickly and efficiently requires local agencies to rapidly design and deploy new engagement models, programs, and workflows that are easy to use, that can quickly scale up to meet demand, and are flexible enough to adjust to changes in federal and local requirements. Learn how these AWS customers and partners are leveraging the cloud to quickly launch and distribute benefit assistance programs like emergency rental assistance.
Using machine learning to help nonprofits with fundraising activities
Nonprofits can leverage the cloud to reduce the burden associated with their fundraising activities. With machine learning (ML), nonprofits can identify individuals who are more likely to engage and donate to their cause to support their mission. Read more to learn exactly how you can put these solutions into action and leverage ML to help your nonprofit with fundraising efforts. In this post, discover how to use Amazon Personalize to build a ML model that supports a wide-range of personalization experiences—without prior machine learning experience.
New Performance Dashboard on AWS makes delivering open, responsive government simple
Data is at the heart of showing citizens how public services are working, and it enables the public sector to improve policy and operational delivery. Citizens expect accessible and useful services. The public sector aims to demonstrate success through data. To build trust in this relationship and promote accountability, public sector organizations need to communicate the data-driven performance of the services they provide. To help address these challenges, AWS is releasing Performance Dashboard on AWS. Performance Dashboard on AWS is a new open source solution to help you measure and share what’s important in one place and at minimal cost, and you can have the solution up and running in a matter of minutes.
BrainGuide uses cloud technology to empower people with knowledge and resources for brain health
Alzheimer’s, a progressive brain disease that gradually deteriorates memories and thinking skills, is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, according to nonprofit UsAgainstAlzheimer’s (UsA2). To help address the immense need for brain health information and insights, UsA2 recently launched BrainGuide working with AWS and Biogen. BrainGuide is a first-of-its-kind platform that empowers people with knowledge and resources to take the best next steps in managing their own or a loved one’s brain health.
Advice for transportation agencies and authorities seeking funding for innovation
Innovators in the transportation sector can seek additional sources of funding to help advance projects to improve safety, efficiency, system performance, and infrastructure. The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) offers state and local government funding opportunities through discretionary grant programs that encourage transportation agencies to think big. Several AWS customers, including the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT), successfully won these highly competitive USDOT grants. Learn from the collaborators on these projects, including Haile, Mark Haselkorn, director of the University of Washington’s Center for Collaborative Systems for Safety, Security, and Regional Resilience (CoSSaR), and Jimmy Kim, head of business development for smart communities, transportation, and mobility at Verizon, as they share their suggestions for crafting a successful application.