Top 10 things you missed: The Public Sector Partner Forum at the AWS Summit Washington, DC

Earlier this week, I was thrilled to host my first Amazon Web Services (AWS) Public Sector Partner Forum in advance of the AWS Summit Washington, DC. It was a wonderful opportunity to speak directly to AWS Partners about our journey together, share some exciting announcements, and have a conversation with other AWS leaders.

More than 400 AWS Partners joined us for the AWS Partner Forum, but there are thousands more around the world that weren’t able to physically join us. Here are some highlights.

AWS ProServe Ready extending to new countries

AWS ProServe Ready will expand into Canada and select countries in Latin America and Asia Pacific later this year. When AWS Partners voiced their interest in collaborating with AWS Professional Services (AWS ProServe) to better support public sector customers, AWS ProServe Ready was our response to that request. AWS ProServe Ready prepares AWS Partners to work seamlessly with AWS ProServe on subcontract engagements in the public sector. The program leverages both the strengths of our AWS ProServe practice and AWS Partners, bringing customers the best of both worlds. Learn more about the program here.

First global partners for ATO on AWS

We’re pushing toward expanding the Authority to Operate (ATO) on AWS Program to deliver value for partners and customers outside the US. We welcomed our first international partners through the Global Security and Compliance Acceleration (GSCA) initiative, this year, including CyberCX (Australia), 6point6 (United Kingdom), Kainos (Canada), and DNX Solutions (Australia).

GSCA extends the support of the ATO on AWS Program globally with localized security and compliance partners. It identifies partners in areas across the globe that have a core competency and capability to both support and accelerate AWS customers in their journey to meet differing public and private sector regulations and compliance frameworks.

Think Big for Small Business (TBSB) for Software Partner track added

The new Think Big for Small Business (TBSB) for Software Partners track provides additional assistance to our software partners who fall under the small business designation or are owned, operated, and controlled by under-represented groups. This accelerates their access to AWS resources and helps maximize their growth so that our customers can continue to choose from a diverse community of trusted partners with wide-ranging expertise.

TBSB celebrated its first anniversary earlier this year. More than 270 small and/or minority-owned AWS business partners participated in TBSB in its first year, generating more than 2,450 AWS-launched opportunities.

New program launch: Solution Spark for Public Sector Partners

After a successful nine-month pilot, we are launching Solution Spark for Public Sector Partners on July 1 to help AWS Partners develop solutions that address public sector mission needs. This program provides partners with training and resources to build on top of AWS solutions that solve common customer problems in the public sector – addressing needs across state and local government, federal government, healthcare, and education. Partners will have access to new and developing solutions, promotion on AWS solution pages, specialized training and support, and go-to-market support, such as joint go-to-marketing planning, Market Development Funds (MDF), and sales support.

Announcing the AWS Containers Rapid Adoption Assistance (CRAA) initiative

The AWS Container Rapid Adoption Assistance (CRAA) initiative for public sector partners officially launched. This builds on our other AWS Rapid Adoption Assistance (RAA) like the AWS Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) RAA initiative and AWS Internet of Things (IoT) RAA initiative. RAA provides partners with a mechanism to engage with AWS experts to build and deliver AWS solutions that are mission critical to public sector organizations.

CRAA offers technical expertise and hands-on guidance to partners to help accelerate container solution deployments on behalf of public sector customers. Through CRAA, AWS will deliver dedicated partner development support to simplify your cloud procurement strategy and reduce ramp-up time to deploy solutions.

AWS Outpost rack within SAP NS2 Labs supports 5G edge co-innovation initiative

AWS is partnering with SAP NS2 Labs, SAP, and Verizon to deploy a 5G cell within NS2 Labs in Chantilly, VA, to facilitate co-innovation for 5G edge computing use cases. The AWS Outpost rack being used within NS2 Labs is the first AWS Outpost deployment for SAP or SAP NS2 worldwide. The combination of Verizon 5G with AWS secure hybrid edge capabilities will allow AWS Partners and customers to process larger amounts of data regardless of location, meet compliance requirements around data sovereignty, and more simply integrate their edge and cloud workloads.

Coming soon: AWS Smart City Competency

Later this year, we will launch a new competency to deliver best-in-class partner recommendations to AWS customers and the partner community, to build and deploy innovative smart city solutions. Through the AWS Smart City Competency Program, customers will be able to confidently and quickly identify highly specialized AWS Partners who can help accelerate and optimize city reforms, improve quality of life for citizens, and drive economic growth.

We developed and launched the AWS Competency Program as a mechanism for helping customers to identify the right partner for the right job. This program differentiates partners who have demonstrated deep technical expertise and repeat customer success within specific use cases.

New AWS Healthcare Accelerator focused on health equity announced

Now in its second year, the AWS Healthcare Accelerator will support startups with US-based operations focusing on health equity. Reducing health disparities is a complex challenge, but there is an opportunity to apply modern technology to help address these issues. This year’s program will bring in healthcare industry leaders to collaborate with startups on topics ranging from defining business models to certifying compliance, security, and growth.

AWS will consider startups focused on one or more of the following areas: increasing access to health services, reducing disparities by addressing social determinants of health, and leveraging data to promote equitable and inclusive systems of care. Learn more about the 2022 AWS Healthcare Accelerator and how to apply.

Cohorts selected for AWS Sustainable Cities and 2022 AWS Space accelerators

The AWS Sustainable Cities Accelerator and our 2022 AWS Space Accelerator – announced earlier this year – now have their 2022 cohorts. Startups representing 19 countries were selected for the AWS Sustainable Cities Accelerator. These companies were chosen to help address the crucial need for innovation and collaborative solutions to address the global climate and clean tech challenges. A global group of 10 emerging startups from across the United States, Asia, and Europe were selected from hundreds of applications for the 2022 AWS Space Accelerator. The startups each have an inspiring and innovative vision for how to transform the growing global space industry across a diverse set of mission areas.

Special guest: Roomie robot

My most unique guest during the AWS Partner Forum was the Roomie robot. The engineers at Roomie developed this robot in response to declining hospital capacity in Mexico City during the COVID-19 pandemic. It uses Amazon SageMaker for machine learning to identify suspected cases of COVID-19 to help protect medical personnel and patients, avoid the spread of contagious cases, and strengthen the health system at the most critical point of the pandemic. The demonstration of the Roomie robot showed how AWS Partners and customers in the public sector have innovated during the COVID-19 pandemic to deliver solutions to make the world a safer place.