AWS Public Sector Blog
Enabling impact in Australia and New Zealand at the AWS Public Sector Summit Canberra: Recap
Kristin Boorse, Head of Product Development, Thorn
At the AWS Public Sector Summit in Canberra, Australia, more than 1,300 technologists convened to learn about digital transformation through cloud technologies, and were able to get inspired, dive deep, and begin to build. Keynote speakers highlighted the impact AWS can have on the individual, society, security, government, and the economy in the Australia and New Zealand region.
Read on for what you missed at the AWS Public Sector Summit Canberra:
The Australian government makes it easier for entities to run on AWS
The Australian Government Digital Transformation Agency, an agency committed to providing simple, clear, and fast public services, entered into a whole of government agreement with AWS. This agreement will allow government entities throughout the country access to AWS services through simplified procurement – changing the paradigm of government procurement. From day one, government entities can save costs through pre-negotiated terms and conditions. Learn more on the Australian Government Digital Transformation Agency website.
AWS Educate for Australian veterans coming soon
We are excited to announce plans to extend AWS Educate program to Australian veterans, to help prepare them for a future career in cloud. The program will be available in 2020 to Australian-based veterans.
Recent research by AWS and Deloitte Access Economics revealed the biggest barrier to cloud adoption in Australia was ensuring workers had the correct skills to enable digital transformation, with 37% of businesses surveyed noting this as their top challenge. By helping unlock the country’s veteran talent base through the AWS Educate program, we are helping prepare the next generation of IT and cloud professionals, and help build Australia’s talent pipeline.
Learn more about the AWS Educate for Veterans program and sign up to receive updates on the AWS Educate for Veterans in Australia.
Drones running on AWS help with maritime detection, search and rescue
Co-founder of The Ripper Group International, Dr. Paul Scully-Power, discussed SharkSpotter©, the world’s first real-time artificial intelligent shark detection system for unmanned aerial vehicles, powered by AWS. Using drones, the SharkSpotter program detects sharks in the ocean and sends alerts to the beach or control centre to warn of danger. Using AWS, The Ripper Group was also able to reduce latency from 10 seconds to less than one second, make SharkSpotter an app accessible on a smartphone, as well as scale the SharkSpotter-as-a-Service to be available worldwide – helping save lives and keep swimmers out of danger. The company is currently working on CrocSpotter©.
Read more about The Ripper Group and SharkSpotter.
Using technology tools to protect children from online sexual abuse
During the keynote address, Head of Product Management at nonprofit Thorn, Kristin Boorse, shared how they’re using AWS to achieve their mission to defend children from sexual abuse online and end child trafficking. With AWS, Thorn is able to find victims faster, with shorter investigations – cutting investigation time by as much as 65% – saving 10,000 victims in 55 countries.
Learn more about how Thorn uses AWS to combat child trafficking and online child abuse.
Saving technology resources to save environmental resources
Managing New Zealand’s eight million hectares of public conservation land, 13 national parks, 36 conservation parks, six marine mammal sanctuaries, and 44 marine reserves is more manageable with AWS. In his keynote speech, the New Zealand Department of Conservation CIO, Mike Edginton, discussed how by using AWS and their data lakes and open source data code, they were able to deploy resources more efficiently and operate 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
AWS celebrates recent launch of AWS Security Hub
AWS recently launched the AWS Security Hub, where you’re able to centrally view and manage security alerts and automate compliance checks. The AWS Security Hub aligns with CIS benchmarks, allows users to remediate group’s security findings into graphs, and enables automatic alerts to chat, ticketing, or auto-scaling. Simon Elisha, AWS Head of Solutions Architecture for Australia and New Zealand, discussed this and more during the keynote. Learn more about AWS Security Hub.
You might also like: