Category: State or Local Government

State and local government organizations are experiencing an increase in cyber incidents that impact and disrupt citizen services. In 2021, US President Joe Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which created the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) to provide funding to eligible entities to address cybersecurity risks and threats to information systems owned or operated by, or on behalf of, state, local, or tribal governments. This blog post guides you through some resources and approaches to consider as organizations strive to meet the SLCGP funding requirements.

AWS recently announced the global launch of the AWS Smart City Competency Program. Today, as governments and city leaders look to shape cities of the future, they are actively looking to meet citizen needs for smarter and more innovative urban services. The new AWS Smart City Competency Program will deliver proven partner recommendations to AWS customers and partner community to help them build and deploy innovative smart city solutions. As cities explore ways to digitally transform, there are a few key things to consider.

At Amazon, we believe cybersecurity skills training and workforce development are essential to addressing cybersecurity challenges. Leading into Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Amazon hosted Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), for a roundtable with leaders across higher education, state and local government, and private industry to discuss ways to develop the cybersecurity workforce through skills training, partnerships between government and industry, and creating pathways to cybersecurity careers. Learn more about how Amazon supports cybersecurity training.

Citi Logik is a UK-based government technology (GovTech) company and AWS Partner with Amazon Web Services (AWS). Citi Logik uses AWS to enhance anonymised raw mobile network data (MND) so organisations can identify trends in the flow of people across a variety of different transportation modes. Citi Logik provides their customers, including the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Wiltshire County Council, with valuable insights to help them make informed decisions about future transportation planning and urban planning development.

US state and local government and education customers can get in-person no-cost training, hands-on help, and more at the AWS State and Local Learning Days. AWS will offer one-on-one support and more at two AWS State and Local Learning Days events. Built for a range of government and education customers, from mission owners to cloud technical experts to IT managers, the AWS State and Local Learning Days can help you improve your cloud knowledge and learn new ways to achieve your mission outcomes.

With the development of 5G and an ever-growing number of cloud-connected devices, data is becoming available at an unprecedented rate. Law enforcement agencies can use this hyper-connected environment to bridge previously isolated data siloes and make better-informed decisions to improve emergency response and citizen services. To discuss how law enforcement agencies are using new technology to improve constituent outcomes, AWS recently hosted a webinar featuring a panel of experts. Read on for key takeaways from the webinar and watch on-demand.

A common driver of public sector transformation is the potential for efficiency. This is certainly one of the benefits of digitalization. However, I want to share a story that shows why we need to balance this focus on efficiency with an understanding of how people will use our services to achieve the best results for our efforts. I walk through how agencies can approach human-centered design to create better and more effective citizen services.

Nominations are now open for the Future of Government Awards, a new global awards program to recognize the people and projects leading the digital transformation of governments around the world. The Future of Government Awards program seeks to celebrate the hidden public sector heroes who work tirelessly to modernize their governments to improve citizen services. The awards champion innovative technology solutions that the public sector has created and shared—as well as the stories of government organizations that have successfully adapted and reused them. Nominate a public sector digital transformation hero today.

The IMAGINE conference from AWS in Seattle, Washington brought together education, state, and local leaders to learn, connect, and get inspired about how the latest innovations in cloud technology are transforming what’s possible for local communities. During the keynote, Kim Majerus, vice president of US state and local government and education at AWS, and customer guest speakers shared with attendees how innovators in education, state, and local leadership use AWS to help deliver for their communities, expand digital equity, accelerate workforce development, and more. Find out some of what you missed at IMAGINE 2022.

Carbyne, an AWS justice and public safety customer and partner, provides 911 call handling systems, offering a cloud-native software as a service (SaaS) platform. Although any public safety answering points (PSAPs) can benefit from Carbyne’s cloud-powered solution, certain regions with hostile, remote terrain can especially benefit from improved caller location and the ability to put eyes on the scene. This is crucial, for example, in situations where people are lost or hurt in the desert, and in desert-heavy counties that form the Rio Grande Council of Governments (RGCOG). Using Carbyne improved RioCOG’s caller location from an accuracy of a few miles to within roughly 10 meters on over 85% of emergency calls.