On Monday, January 27, representatives from UBC and Amazon Web Services (AWS) celebrated the officially opening of the UBC Community Health and Wellbeing Cloud Innovation Centre (CIC) space at the Vancouver campus. The UBC CIC, powered by AWS, is the first of its kind in Canada and supports student teams tackling real-world issues and challenges, where the application of innovative technology or computing approaches is essential.
UBC’s work in community-engaged research, learning and public service sets us apart, noted Prof. Santa J. Ono in his remarks at the event, adding that this initiative with Amazon provides UBC with opportunities to accelerate public sector innovation, test new ideas to solve pressing community challenges, and access technological expertise.
“We are building a global network of CICs where we can share lessons learned, innovations, and best practices of innovation challenges to benefit all of public sector,” said Ben Butler, Global Leader for the CIC program (AWS Worldwide Public Sector). “I am very excited to be a part of the launch of the UBC CIC and look forward to seeing the types of innovation challenges that we can work on together.”
With the UBC CIC now officially open on campus, and with a CIC Team in place, the call for challenge submissions is open. The CIC’s overarching theme of community health and wellbeing aligns with UBC’s Strategic Plan, within the core areas of People & Places and Transformative Learning, and the institution’s ongoing development of sustainable, health and connected campuses and communities. For more information on the UBC CIC and challenge submissions, please visit www.cic.ubc.ca
