Tag: UBC

Dr. Kevin Leyton-Brown and Neil Newman are computer scientists at the University of British Columbia (UBC) working at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and microeconomic theory. Their research demands large-scale, high-performance computing, in episodic bursts, to run parallel simulations of complex auctions. When Leyton-Brown and Newman began research into the computationally complex auction theory behind the 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, their ML models required significantly more computing power than their on-premises infrastructure could provide. The UBC team turned to RONIN, an AWS Partner, and the virtually unlimited infrastructure of the AWS Cloud, to accelerate their time to answers and new discoveries.

How do we avoid the next global pandemic? For researchers collaborating with the University of British Columbia Cloud Innovation Center (UBC CIC), the answer to that question lies in a massive library of genetic sequencing data. But there is a problem: the data library is so massive that traditional computing can’t comprehensively analyze or process it. So the UBC CIC team collaborated with computational virologists to create Serratus, an open-science viral discovery platform to transform the field of genomics—built on the massive computational power of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud.

At the 10th anniversary of re:Invent, Max Peterson, vice president of worldwide public sector at Amazon Web Services (AWS) took to the stage to highlight AWS customers’ innovative advancements to empower communities and transform the future of research, as well as new cloud-powered paths to space exploration and the impact this has on our lives here on Earth. He was joined by customers who shared their stories of how they’re leveraging the cloud to drive their missions. Plus, Max announced a series of new initiatives for public sector customers.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare organizations around the world are focusing on improving and speeding up testing and diagnostics. Digital health companies Smart Reporting in Germany and Thirona in the Netherlands have been working to create a CT-based imaging solution to support COVID-19 diagnosis, enabled by the cloud and the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Diagnostic Development Initiative. The AWS Diagnostic Development Initiative provides support to organizations for innovation in rapid and accurate patient testing for 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) and other diagnostic solutions to mitigate future outbreaks.

Technology and the cloud can help address some of the world’s most pressing and immediate challenges, like battling COVID-19 and improving cities. At Amazon Web Services (AWS), we encourage innovation through technology in our AWS Cloud Innovation Centers (CICs). CICs are long-term, strategic collaborations with public sector organizations interested in solving societal problems through digital solutions while providing students a platform to learn by doing. Check out a few of the challenges CICs around the world have worked on so far this year.

The botany department at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the UBC Data Science Institute are working together to research the evolution and genetic makeup of sunflowers – a critical crop in addressing global food security.

Amazon Comprehend Medical is a natural language processing (NLP) service that simplifies the use of machine learning (ML) to extract relevant medical information from unstructured text often found in clinical charts or doctor’s notes. Since the service launched in the AWS Canada (Central) Region in June 2019, it opened up possibilities for Canadian healthcare organizations to better serve patients. Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers are among the organizations who leverage Amazon Comprehend Medical and Amazon SageMaker, to create their own machine learning models that can triage x-rays to provide a better healthcare experience.

Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the launch of a Cloud Innovation Centre (CIC) at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver. Part of an ongoing relationship between AWS and UBC, the CIC will provide students, staff, and faculty access to cloud technology to advance research projects, while employing Amazon’s innovation processes. The CIC is the first of its kind in Canada.