GCP – Welcome to Google Public Sector Summit 2024

Today, Google Public Sector is gathering customers and partners in Washington, D.C. for its annual Google Public Sector Summit, an event focusing on the “art of the possible” in AI, cybersecurity, and data analysis for government customers. In 2023, we gathered the government technology community to explore and share best practices on how to get started with AI. This year, we’re seeing incredible momentum among our customers who are digitally transforming with AI to support their missions — ranging from using gen AI for language translation, to building an AI-powered microscope to identify cancer, to helping identify underground water leaks.

We are thrilled to showcase some new innovations that will help more public sector organizations on their AI journeys, as well as new authorizations that will help us expand our offerings to more agencies. In addition, we have expanded partnerships that will enable organizations to prototype, create, and deploy AI-powered solutions faster, as well as upskill their workforces. Read more below for all of the details.

Gemini in Google Distributed Cloud Coming to Secret and Top Secret Workloads in Early 2025

We’re excited to announce that Gemini in Google Distributed Cloud (GDC) will be available for Secret and Top Secret workloads in early 2025. Gemini in GDC empowers public sector agencies to build next-generation AI agents designed to improve efficiency and effectiveness across departments. These workloads could include agents built to help government employees streamline workflows and code development, gain deeper insights from data to drive better decision-making, and enhance the agency’s cybersecurity posture to navigate evolving threats.

Gemini in GDC is air-gapped, empowering agencies to adhere to the highest standards of security, compliance, and privacy, with enterprise-grade security built in to protect sensitive government data. With a focus on data privacy and high availability, Gemini in GDC ensures reliable access to critical AI capabilities that can improve public services, increase productivity, and ultimately better serve citizens.

Google Achieves IL4/5 ATO for Air Force Cloud One

Today, we are also announcing that Google Public Sector has achieved Impact Level (IL) 4 and IL5 Authorization to Operate (ATO) for Air Force Cloud One, a contract vehicle that provides innovative cloud technologies to the Department of the Air Force. This milestone underscores our commitment to providing the DoD with secure and reliable cloud solutions for sensitive workloads.

Google’s use of a Zero Trust security architecture – where the assumption is that no part of the network is inherently secure, and constant verification of access is required – along with logical traffic separation in its commercial cloud infrastructure, sets it apart from other vendors. The U.S. Air Force now has access to Google Cloud’s scalable, flexible cloud services to support critical government applications.

Google is a pioneer in Zero Trust security, and this achievement builds on our existing FedRAMP authorizations and further solidifies our position as a trusted partner for the DoD’s digital transformation journey.

A Playbook for Minting the New Chief AI Officer

According to the White House Executive Order on AI, every federal agency will need to fill the role of Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) by the end of this year.

That’s why we commissioned leading analyst firm IDC to produce The Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) Playbook: A Practical Guide for Advancing AI Innovation in Government, offering guidance for U.S. federal agencies navigating the evolving CAIO role¹. The playbook explores challenges and opportunities, drawing comparisons to similar roles, and emphasizes the importance of clear role definition, stakeholder engagement, and early project success. Some key findings from IDC’s research include:

More than two-thirds of federal agencies believe in the power of the ecosystem and working with more than one trusted partner outside of government, such as cloud providers, gen AI model vendors, and systems integrators.Federal agencies that have high levels of AI maturity are four times as likely to explore multiple gen AI use case pilots, compared with those that are at the beginning of their AI journey.36% of federal agencies identify the lack of in-house AI skills and expertise as a major challenge, highlighting the crucial need for developing the AI workforce.

Google Accelerates Government Upskilling with $15M AI Grants

According to Apolitical’s research, only 15% of public servants have received training in AI. That’s why today, we’re announcing $15 million in new Google.org funding to two leading public sector organizations — the Partnership for Public Service and InnovateUS — to further upskill the U.S. government workforce in responsible AI. The grants will be used to both establish a Center for Federal AI, a hub dedicated to cultivating AI leadership and talent within the federal government, and to offer no-cost, at-your-own-pace AI training courses, workshops, and coaching programs tailored to the needs of the public sector organizations.

Google Launches National Institute of Health STRIDES Marketplace

Today at the Summit, Google Cloud and 11 independent software vendors are launching a curated Google Cloud NIH STRIDES Marketplace to provide a one-stop shop for researchers under the National Institute of Health (NIH) Science and Technology Research Infrastructure for Discovery, Experimentation, and Sustainability (STRIDES) initiative. The Marketplace will allow scientists to find, purchase, and deploy cloud-based tools and services from Google Cloud partners to accelerate biomedical research.

Google Cloud is already the preferred platform for researchers around the world because of its scalability, ease of use, and openness. The new Google NIH STRIDES Marketplace will offer easy access to a wide range of tools and services that benefit researchers and scientists, including compute resources, data storage and analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and scientific tools.

The inaugural cohort of Google Cloud partners includes Redis, Box for Life Sciences, Augmedix (a Commure company), Sorcero, Egnyte, MongoDB, Weka.io, Form Bio, Red Hat, Rhino Health, and Aiforia.

Our Partners, Our Key to Success

At a pivotal time for innovation in the public sector, Google Public Sector continues to focus on accelerating growth, fostering deeper collaboration, and maximizing profitability for our valued partners. Yesterday, at the Public Sector Partner Connect 2024 event, we announced a number of enhancements to our Partner Advantage Program to help our partners more seamlessly scale their resources and services offerings to help public sector organizations solve their biggest challenges.

We also announced two expansions to existing partnerships:

Accenture Federal Services and the Google Public Sector’s Rapid Innovation Team have launched a new “AI Federal Solution Factory” to speed the prototyping and piloting of AI-powered solutions purpose-built for federal agencies.Slalom Solution Factory announced an expanded partnership with Google Public Sector, which will focus on the development of cutting-edge AI solutions, leveraging Google Public Sector’s Rapid Innovation Team and professional Google Career Certifications to help drive customer success via U.S. state and local government and education (SLED) initiatives.

Our commitment to the public sector continues to be a source of pride as we work with our industry partners to explore the “art of the possible” with our customers. See how Google Public Sector can help your organization use technology to become more connected, secure, and responsive to the needs of your constituents.

¹IDC Signature White Paper, The Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) Playbook: A Practical Guide for Advancing AI Innovation in Government, sponsored by Google Public Sector, Doc# US52616824, October 2024