15 Data Questions That Rose to the Top — Inspiration for Your 2026 Curiosity Cup Journey
If you’ve ever wondered what this competition is about, who can take part, and what kinds of projects reached the Top 15 finalists or won in the last edition, you’re in the right place.
The Curiosity Cup is a worldwide student analytics competition that brings together creative minds from higher education institutions across the globe.
Each year, teams of two to four students and a faculty advisor will choose an analytics topic that ignites their curiosity and use SAS software to learn from the data and answer big questions.
In 2025, a total of 112 student teams from 29 countries submitted their data-driven projects. The finalists impressed judges with innovative uses of analytics that demonstrated not only technical excellence but also meaningful social impact.
The Curiosity Cup 2025 Finalist Topics
The finalists’ projects covered a wide range of real-world issues — from healthcare and business to environmental sustainability and media analysis.
Each of these projects shared one goal — to show how data curiosity can make the world smarter, healthier, and fairer.
We are proud to feature their work and thrilled by how much awareness is being raised by jury members, academic institutions, and students on social media already.
Explore the top 15 finalist submissions from the Curiosity Cup 2025, including their full papers, and get inspired by the ideas, insights, and innovation that stood out.
- Team Machine Learning Dynamite – Winner: Predicting Breast Cancer with Machine Learning
- Team DataMind – Winner: How Do Italian Seniors Use Facebook?
- Team Data ACES – Winner: Enhancing Early Alzheimer’s Detection Through Machine Learning and Data Preparation
- Team Byte Wizards – Finalist: What Makes a Startup Succeed?
- Team World Air Analysts – Finalist: Can Pollution Predict Mortality or Reflect Economic Growth?
- Team Data Doctors – Finalist: Can Machine Learning Predict Heart Attacks?
- Team The News Miners - Finalist: How does the media shape our view of artificial intelligence?
- Team Probability – Finalist: When Data Meets Earthquakes: Saving Lives with Analytics
- Team Chaos Explorers – Finalist: Fighting Wildfires with Data: How Analytics Can Help
- ORSOL Synthetic Data – Finalist: How Synthetic Data Can Power the Future of EV Charging
- Team NOT the CAT – Finalist: How to Decode Customer Loyalty
- Team ByteStorm – Finalist: What we say as leaders matters. Words don’t just describe reality; they shape it.
- Team Math Mavericks – Finalist When Every Death Counts: The Hidden Story in Malaysia’s Mortality Data
- Team Quantum Thinkers – Finalist: Optimizing Drug Supply with Machine Learning
- Team Peaches – Finalist: Understanding How Food Insecurity Affects Early Childhood Development
Learning That Lasts Beyond the Competition
As Jürgen Kaselowsky, Global Academic Programs Director at SAS, perfectly summarized: “Even if you are not a winner, all participants will learn so much! Working in a team, meeting a deadline, keeping formalities, and receiving feedback from real-life data scientists.”
All participants receive digital badges, and winners also earn great prizes.
If you’re a student passionate about data, analytics, and real-world impact, the Curiosity Cup 2026 might be your chance to shine.
Registration opens December 1, 2025, to February 1, 2026.
Join the interest list here to stay in the loop.
