Highlights from the 2025 AWS Imagine Education, State, and Local Government keynote

The eighth annual AWS Imagine conference for education, state, and local government leaders kicked off in Chicago today. Taking place in the Windy City for the first time, attendees will partake in a day-and-a-half of programming that explores how education and government customers can innovate on behalf of those they serve. Kim Majerus, AWS Vice President of Global Education and US State and Local Government, delivered the keynote address, which focused on how AWS is helping reframe, retrain, and reenergize public sector organizations.

Continue reading to learn more about some of the highlights from today’s keynote.

Guest speakers

A living legend luminary

The keynote session included six guest speakers, with LeVar Burton as the headliner. The award-winning actor and renowned literacy and education advocate joined Majerus for a fireside chat early in the keynote. Burton, who was awarded a National Humanities Medal in 2024, was engaging, inspiring, and thought-provoking. Among the topics the pair discussed were the education of future generations, the intersection of technology and literacy, and the power of looking to our histories to write about our futures. Burton ended the chat by stressing the need to educate the next generation of learners on AI so that they can adopt and adapt to advanced technologies in a rapidly-changing world.

LeVar Burton and Kim Majerus, AWS Vice President of Global Education and US State and Local Government, sharing insights during the fireside chat.

Wisconsin’s digital transformation journey

Secretary David Casey from the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (DOR) was the first customer speaker to take the stage. His presentation detailed how DOR is transforming citizen services using AWS services like Amazon Connect and Amazon QuickSight. Highlighting their modernized contact center, Secretary Casey shared that his agency has cut costs by 60 percent, reduced peak wait times by one-third, and had zero outages since launch.

Cornell University’s campus-wide AI strategy

Ben Maddox, CIO of Cornell University, shared how the school’s comprehensive AI strategy has driven measurable results, including a 40 percent improvement in operational efficiency. Cornell’s approach combines a robust data foundation with AWS services to streamline administrative processes and enhance student experiences. Maddox highlighted how generative AI experimentation and deployment is live across the institution, from student learning to veterinary medicine to its medical school.

AWS Partners leading innovation

The last three guests were part of a panel discussion on AI innovation moderated by Kimberley Williams, AWS strategy lead for education and state and local government. The panel included Derry Chen, product lead for education at Anthropic; Ray Kaminski, VP of cloud at CentralSquare; and Zach Pendleton, chief architect at Instructure. Their discussion focused on how they’re leveraging AWS AI capabilities to revolutionize learning and citizen services through personalized, data-driven experiences. Anthropic highlighted its recent launch of Claude for Education in AWS Marketplace and Instructure shared details about IgniteAI, its agentic AI chatbot powered by Amazon Bedrock.

From left: Derry Chen, product lead for education at Anthropic; Ray Kaminski, VP of cloud at CentralSquare; Zach Pendleton, chief architect at Instructure; and Kimberley Williams, AWS strategy lead for education and state and local government, participating in a panel discussion.

Key announcements and highlights

White House’s AI education pledge

Majerus shared that last month, Amazon joined more than 60 organizations as the first signers of the White House’s Pledge to America’s Youth: Investing in AI Education. The pledge is a commitment to create educational and workforce development opportunities for K-12 learners across the US.

New AWS-powered lab at Vanderbilt

The Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries recently launched the Vanderbilt Cloud Innovation Lab for Academic Libraries and Applied Digital Preservation. This groundbreaking initiative combines Vanderbilt’s expertise in library science with AWS cloud technologies. The lab will feature student-fellows working alongside subject matter experts during rapid prototyping sprints to develop open-source solutions for digital archiving challenges.

Innovation among state government

The keynote highlighted several examples of states innovating on behalf of their constituents, including:

• California: The Golden State’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) faced challenges like 45,000 daily calls and two-hour wait times. After implementing Connect, the DMV reduced call handle times by up to 30 seconds, was able to provide automated callbacks, and most significantly, reached a customer satisfaction score of 90 percent.
• Georgia: The state recently launched its Horizons Innovation Lab. Powered in part by AWS, the lab is a creative space where government agencies collaborate with qualified partners in a secure environment on projects that help the state.
• North Carolina: The state’s Division of Employment Security launched a gen AI-powered virtual assistant using Bedrock. The assistant guides individuals through the unemployment insurance claims process. In its first month, the tool handled 2,700 inquiries that would have otherwise required human assistance.
• South Carolina: The state’s Department of Social Services leveraged Connect to improve citizen services across 19 contact centers over the last three years. These contact centers have handled more than 2 million calls with 100 percent uptime.

Collaborations across the pond

Majerus also highlighted collaborations with three higher education customers in the United Kingdom. The University of East London is launching an innovation sandbox for students, the University of Bath is using AWS AI for teaching and learning, and the University of Exeter is working with AWS to empower educators and students, enhance research, and develop digitally enabled and more sustainable solutions.

2025 cohort of AWS Champions

No AWS Imagine keynote is complete without recognizing a new cohort of AWS Champions. Presented by the Center for Digital Government and the Center for Digital Education, the program celebrates education, EdTech, GovTech, and state and local government leaders who are driving innovation through AWS solutions. Read about this year’s 41 Champions.

Accelerating research in the cloud

Sponsored by AWS, Hyperion Research released a new report called The Value of Utilizing Cloud Service Providers for Open Science Research. This global study reveals key insights from 100 researchers and research IT professionals from 88 institutions. Download it now for the latest findings from the intersection of cloud and science.

Watch the 2025 AWS Imagine Education, State, and Local Government keynote: