One unfortunate outcome of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. is that many businesses have been forced to close. The “Economic Impact Report” released by Yelp Inc. in September indicated that permanent closures had reached 97,966, which represented 60% of closed businesses overall.

In this difficult economic climate, the tech community has a prime opportunity to make a difference, and that was highlighted by Teresa Carlson (pictured), vice president of Worldwide Public Sector and Industries at Amazon.com Inc., in her keynote address today during AWS re:Invent.

Among the examples cited in the keynote was work by Kabbage Inc., which used the Amazon Textract machine learning service to support 80% of Kabbage’s small business applicants for the government’s Paycheck Protection Program. Use of the technology reduced approval time from multiple days to a median speed of four hours.

“Transformation in the public sector has really been driven by necessity because of COVID,” said Lisa Martin, co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. “The speed and connectivity elements were things that really spoke loudly to me in today’s keynote. There’s a lot of amazing things that AWS has been able to facilitate very quickly.”

Martin spoke with John Furrier, co-host of theCUBE, during the Public Sector keynote analysis on the second week of AWS re:Invent. They discussed how the company has fostered innovation in the public sector, the importance of support for initiatives that lead to the betterment of society, and a critical need for bold thinking. (* Disclosure below.)

Driving value from data

The work of Amazon in the public sector spans a wide range of areas, from healthcare and renewable energy to agriculture, education and support for military veterans.

“Carlson has always had a big, bold vision,” Furrier said. “You’ve got to think big and look at the value of the data. That was the key message.”

One of Amazon’s bolder initiatives involves a resurrection of supersonic flight. In late November, AWS announced that the aviation startup Boom Supersonic had formed a deal with the company to use its cloud platform in the design and development of a new supersonic aircraft. In a previous statement, Carlson applauded the deal as an opportunity to make the world more accessible for everyone.

“There’s a tremendous amount of innovation happening,” Martin said. “So many businesses have pivoted.”

Mandate for improving society

AWS has also provided its technology for unlocking drug discovery. Through an AWS Cloud Credit for Research grant, Harvard Medical School researchers are testing compounds using computer simulations. The goal is to identify which small molecules will be best for treating a specific disease.

“They’re using the cloud and donating the technology for the betterment of society,” Furrier said. “I think this is going to be a real big trend.”

Carlson closed her keynote with a “to-do” list for the technology community focused on reimagining and enabling digital businesses, finding the unrealized value in data, and increasing diversity. These represent important mandates, particularly at a time when bold thinking may be more important now than ever.

“No business can afford to be hiding under the covers,” Martin noted. “Be bold. It’s not easy to achieve, but now more than ever it could set apart the winners and losers of tomorrow.”

Here’s the complete video discussion, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of AWS re:Invent. (* Disclosure: Amazon Web Services sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither AWS nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: AWS