The Curiosity Cup
A Global SAS Student Competition
The Curiosity Cup brings student teams together from across the globe for a competition of real-world analytics skills. This is the ultimate group project that will test – and grow – your knowledge of data science and analytics.
The 2025 Curiosity Cup Results
Fifteen teams from around the world advanced past the first round and submitted video presentations for the second.
Twenty-five judges provided feedback and each presentation was scored three times to reveal the winners and runners-up in three categories.
Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all the participating teams! We hope you enjoyed applying your skills to uncover insights through data.
All winners and runners up will get an email with the final score, comments from the jury and instructions to claim your digital badge and prizes.
DATA PREPARATION
| Rank | Team Name | Academic Institution | Country | Title of the paper |
| Winner | Data ACES | University of Santo Tomas | Philippines | Predictive Model Trends: Predicting Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease |
| Runner-up | DataMind | University of Padua | Italy | Social Media use Among Italian Older Adults: A Weighted Analysis of Facebook Survey Data |
DATA ANALYSIS
| Rank | Team Name | Academic Institution | Country | Title of the paper |
| Winner | Machine Learning Dynamite | Anglia Ruskin University | UK | Development of Breast Cancer Detection Tool |
| Runner-up | DataMind | University of Padua | Italy | Social Media use Among Italian Older Adults: A Weighted Analysis of Facebook Survey Data |
DATA PRESENTATION
| Rank | Team Name | Academic Institution | Country | Title of the paper |
| Winner | DataMind | University of Padua | Italy | Social Media use Among Italian Older Adults: A Weighted Analysis of Facebook Survey Data |
| Runner-up | Machine Learning Dynamite | Anglia Ruskin University | UK | Development of Breast Cancer Detection Tool |
Check out the top three Curiosity Cup winners from 2025
Data Preparation:
Data Aces
University of Santo Tomas
Philippines
Predictive Model Trends: Predicting Early Detection of Alzheimer's Disease
Data Analysis:
Machine Learning Dynamite
Anglia Ruskin University
UK
Development of Breast Cancer Detection Tool
Data Presentation:
DataMind
University of Padua
Italy
Social Media Use Among Italian Older Adults: A Weighted Analysis of Facebook Survey Data
Curiosity Cup 2025 at a glance
Teams of students and faculty advisors from all over the world joined us for the 2025 Curiosity Cup. The competition challenged the next generation of analytics experts to explore, analyze and learn from data on topics that inspired their curiosity.
112 teams
29 countries
360 students
25 industry consultants
Competition Guidelines
Teams can choose their own SAS learning software, data and analytical question(s) for the competition.
- SAS software allowed:
- SAS OnDemand for Academics.
- SAS® Viya® for Learners.
- SAS Viya Workbench for Learners.*
- University-licensed SAS software.
- Data and analytical question(s):
- Student teams may choose their own data set and pose their own analytical question(s).
- Data sets must be publicly available, and entries must include a link to the data.
* SAS Viya Workbench for Learners is a development environment that supports SAS and Python. Curiosity Cup participants who use Viya Workbench for Learners may use Python but are encouraged to also show how SAS code or SAS Viya were used to advance their analysis or to visualize their results.
Judging
Teams have two rounds to highlight their skills:
- Round 1: Teams submit a two-to-five-page paper that conducts a data analysis using SAS technology and describes results to a general audience.
- Judging is based on data preparation, data analysis, data presentation and overall paper structure.
- Up to 15 teams will be chosen to compete as finalists in round 2.
- All papers must be submitted using the approved paper template. Only papers using that template will be accepted.
- Round 2: Teams submit a video presentation describing their data analysis as if given to an audience of analytical stakeholders.
- Judging is based on presentation organization, demonstrated subject knowledge, use of visuals, presentation mechanics and message.
- Complete judging information will be available in the terms and conditions and the FAQs.
Awards
All finalist teams will receive a SAS digital badge acknowledging finalist status.
- A winning and runner-up team will be declared in each of the three domains:
- Data preparation.
- Data analysis.
- Data presentation.
- Each student member of the top team in each domain may select one of the following prizes: See the terms and conditions and FAQs for more details.
- Apple iPad (approximate MSRP: US$499).
- Beats Studio Pro Wireless Headphones (approximate MSRP: $349).
- Meta Quest 3 – 128GB Breakthrough Mixed Reality Headset (approximate MSRP: $499).
* Prizes are subject to availability. In the event of a supply shortage, a comparable prize option of similar value will be offered. Only one first-place prize will be given to an individual winner regardless of the number of domains in which their respective team places first.
- Additionally, each student from a winning team will receive:
- Twelve months of access to the SAS content subscription of their choice.
- SAS digital badge acknowledging winner status.
- Each student member of the runner-up teams in each domain will receive:
- Twelve months of access to the SAS content subscription of their choice.
- SAS digital badge acknowledging finalist status.
- Complete judging information will be available in the terms and conditions and the FAQs.
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