While artificial intelligence (AI) remains the hottest area in business and technology, many people and organisations struggle to use it effectively to deliver value.
The fifth annual SAS Hackathon, open for registration now through 31 August 2025, provides a compelling way for people with varying job roles and levels of experience – from data scientists and developers to business analysts and students – to expand their AI skills.
The global SAS Hackathon is a month-long, all-digital event where teams of participants collaborate and compete to solve business and social challenges using the latest AI and advanced analytics.
The actual hacking runs 15 September 2025 through 10 October 2025. All entries will be judged by a panel of AI and analytics experts, and category and industry winners will be announced this fall.
SAS, a leader in data and AI, produces the annual SAS Hackathon, which is sponsored by Microsoft and Intel.
Latest AI technologies
Among the technologies that SAS Hackathon teams can access are:
- SAS® Viya®, SAS’ cloud-native and cloud-agnostic data and AI platform.
- SAS Viya Workbench, a new cloud-based developer environment for building AI models.
- SAS Data Maker, a secure synthetic data generator.
Industry tracks
SAS Hackathon team members can be – and often are – located on different continents. SAS experts will lead (and judge) industry-specific tracks for:
- Banking
- Energy & telecom
- Health care & life sciences
- Insurance
- Public sector
- Retail, consumer goods & manufacturing
- IoT (Internet of things) – a cross-industry track
New individual track for students
For decades, SAS has supported university students looking to hone their analytics skills. And the SAS Hackathon has been a great way for those students to gain valuable – and marketable – experience in data and AI.
For the last five years, students have been able to create or join SAS Hackathon teams, working with these teams to choose an industry track, refine a challenge to address, line up data sources and submit project information for judging.
While students can still create or join teams in the industry tracks, this year’s SAS Hackathon offers a new option: Students can register for the Student Individual track using their academic email. Participants in this track will use Cortex, an analytics simulation game developed by SAS with HEC Montréal, Canada’s first business school, to tackle a fundraising challenge.
Student participants will use SAS software and predictive modeling to identify which potential donors to call for maximum profit while minimising costs. SAS will provide the data set and software access while students will build the models, submit their optimised call list and compete on a leaderboard.
“Through the SAS Hackathon, all participants gain valuable hands-on experience, network with AI and analytics practitioners around the world, and work on big and meaningful challenges for their business, university and community,” said Peter Lundqvist, Global Producer for the SAS Hackathon. “This data and AI experience can boost their portfolios and help them advance in their careers.”
Taking on big challenges
SAS Hackathon teams can create analytical applications that solve real-world challenges and improve lives. For example, Team Butterflies was the grand champion of the 2024 SAS Hackathon. This team from SAS Partner Butterfly Data developed an AI-powered solution to help spot misinformation and disinformation. With Butterfly’s tool, organisations can verify data sources, spot unreliable information and ensure the use of credible and ethical information to make decisions.
The 2024 SAS Hackathon boasted a record 1,731 registrants from more than 70 countries. This led to an all-time high of 145 approved teams that participated in the month-long hack, supported by 110 SAS mentors.
