AWS Public Sector Blog
Innovation and collaboration in Asia Pacific: AWS Public Sector Summit Singapore recap
AWS Public Sector Summit Singapore 2019 – Keynote illustration by Jerry Hargrove
On September 24 & 25, Amazon Web Services (AWS) welcomed 1,865 attendees for the AWS Public Sector Summit in Singapore, newly expanded to include customers from Singapore as well as across the Asia Pacific Region. Technologists and executives gathered to learn how the cloud is driving innovation across government, education, and nonprofits worldwide, get inspired, and begin to build.
Read below for highlights from the AWS Public Sector Summit in Singapore.
Keynote speakers highlight region news and showcase cloud successes
During her keynote address, Teresa Carlson, Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector at Amazon Web Services announced the new AWS Region in Indonesia scheduled to open in early 2022 and discussed education programs available in the region like AWS Educate and AWS Academy to help create the next generation of builders. In the past eight years, AWS launched seven regions across Asia Pacific, investing in the cloud’s infrastructure and the region’s public sector digital transformation. Cloud first policies in Singapore, Japan, Australia, India, and the Philippines maintain security, compliance, and privacy.
Carlson also announced the launch of security solution Threat Detection using Artificial Intelligence (AI), which automates detection of potential cyber-attacks with deep learning algorithms.
Customers and AWS leaders also shared stories of leveraging the cloud to scale solutions including:
- Lee Chew Tan, Managing Director, ASEAN, Worldwide Public Sector, AWS, and Peter Moore, Regional Managing Director, Asia Pacific Japan, Worldwide Public Sector, AWS, detailed how public sector organizations can match the right tools to their needs to move fast and innovate. Peter shared more about how machine learning can help provide solutions in a data rich world.
- Tan Kok Yam, Deputy Secretary, Smart Nation and Digital Government Office, Singapore, explained why a cloud-first framework and how working with cloud providers such as AWS is essential for driving technical innovation in government. In striving to build a “smart nation,” the office focused on building digital architecture, user-centric services, and a pro-developer operating environment to drive the development of a digital economy. Their new processes are part of a broader effort to apply “…technology to solve real world problems that will make a difference to people’s lives, and across the whole of society,” according to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
- Edwin H. Chaidir, Manager of Information Technology, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Indonesia, explained how they use ML to protect some of the most endangered species in South Asia. For example, the organization uses Amazon SageMaker to study the orangutan population in Borneo, using the cloud to support wildlife conservation and science. With highly accurate models, the World Wildlife Fund reduced time and money spent on individual identification of wildlife, freeing up resources to invest in measures to protect the animals.
Interactive pre-day added
Expanded content brought an added day with over a thousand attendees choosing from workshops, hands-on labs, and sessions focused on government, education, healthcare, and nonprofits. In these sessions, AWS customers shared their insights and lessons learned on how they are using the cloud in their organizations.
Dr. Fahmi Ngah, Smart Selangor Delivery Unit Managing Director, spoke about how technology is driving cashless economies. He told the story of CEPat, a platform with a user app and portal that can be used by constituents as a single window to access paid government services in the State of Selangor. It aims to incorporate all state and local government services with multiple e-payment channels from online banking and 46 e-wallets that currently operates in the state.
Speakers shared how machine learning (ML) can augment and accelerate student application cycles in higher education. Ms. Nancy Tan, Director, Academic Affairs Office, Ngee Ann Polytechnic spoke alongside Mr. Raj Kasi, Chief Commercial Officer, Impress.AI, about the ML-based student application platform implemented at the institution, which reduced the manual effort for staff and improved the candidate experience.
In the nonprofit space, James Happell, Global Innovations Advisor, People in Need, outlined last mile solutions that strive to bridge the gap between aid providers and beneficiaries. Humansis, a secure, open source web application, helps to manage beneficiary information in the cloud and deliver humanitarian sources to try to reach the more than 70.8 million people currently forcibly displaced worldwide.
Diversity and inclusion
We Power Tech hosted a networking luncheon and a panel to promote diversity and inclusion in public sector organization in ASEAN. Carlson moderated the conversation on the topic of “Why Diversity and Inclusion Matter to your Transformation Journey: Age, Gender, Culture Diversity within the Workforce.” Emil Elestianto Dardak, Vice-Governor, East Java Province, Indonesia; Wu Choy Peng, CTO, GIC, Singapore; and Cheryl Chung, Co-director, Executive Education, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, joined the conversation on opportunities, challenges, and best practices around diversity and inclusion in public sector organizations in ASEAN.