AWS Public Sector Blog

A picture of our entire Earth’s surface is taken every day. Such a possibility—or even the concept—would have seemed unfeasible and unaffordable just ten years ago. With continued technology improvements, we are witnessing a rapid increase in the number of miniature satellites capturing Earth observation (EO) data. This data is now accepted by many industries including agriculture, insurance, utilities, and urban planning to deliver actionable insights.

Applications are now open for the AWS Educate Cloud Ambassador Program. Launched in 2019, the AWS Educate Cloud Ambassador program is for top-tier cloud educators around the world who focus on helping students learn about cloud computing as they prepare for the modern workforce.

Digital transformation (DX) is shaping the future of business. While it can mean different things to different leaders, DX is about migrating from on-premises and labor-based models to the cloud, then complementing migration with cloud capabilities and agility. But to stop there would miss the full potential of using the cloud to enable DX. To help AWS Partner Network members get started with DX, AWS created the eBook, “The AWS Partner Transformation Program: Setting the Stage to Transformation Your Business.”

Dr. Nicholas Chilton and his research group at The University of Manchester’s Department of Chemistry in the School of Natural Sciences investigate the magnetic properties of molecules for high-density storage, quantum computing, and applications like MRI contrast agents. He turned to the cloud when the university’s onsite HPC cluster couldn’t provide the high-throughput compute power needed to answer his research questions.

With the recent news of the Australian Cyber Security Centre certifying AWS to PROTECTED – the highest data security certification available in Australia for cloud service providers – many public sector customers in the region want to know how to get started on the cloud. To help, AWS created the Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) Public Sector Agency FastStart Guide.

Despite its abundance of natural resources, Colombia has the fourth highest rate of deforestation worldwide. To help battle deforestation and illegal logging, Amazon Web Services (AWS), in collaboration with the United States Embassy in Colombia and Jorge Tadeo University (UTadeo), sponsored the Zoo Hackathon event in Bogota in November 2019.

This month, the Fix This podcast focused on how technology can be used to end human trafficking. To raise awareness of the issue, we interviewed leaders who are committed to finding solutions to the problem. Listen to episodes five and six now, featuring interviews with Thorn, Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), The Freedom Seal, and Unseen UK. The episodes are available for streaming and download on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Overcast, iHeartRadio, and via RSS.

At the Education World Forum (EWF) in London, global leader for workforce and education at Amazon Web Services (AWS) Andrew Ko discussed the workforce shortage in cloud skills – and the importance of piloting initiatives that “cloudify” curriculum to skill-up, upskill, and reskill students, educators, the current workforce, and IT leaders.

Amazon AppStream 2.0 is now integrated with the Global Grid for Learning (GG4L) School Passport and available in the GG4L Catalyst Catalog. With the Amazon AppStream 2.0 integration, students can access the software applications they need for class through any computer anywhere, anytime via School Passport.

At the 2019 re:Invent conference in Las Vegas, Amazon Sustainability and the Amazon Sustainability Data Initiative (ASDI) hosted a four-hour workshop and hackathon to showcase ASDI’s collection of sustainability-related datasets and new ways to put those datasets to use. Called “Code Green,” the event also introduced conference attendees and participants to geospatial weather and climate data on Amazon Web Services (AWS).