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SAS Hackathon
Where Your Curiosity Leads to Innovation
Congratulations to the Winners
The results of this year’s SAS Hackathon are in! Our distinguished panel of judges – more than 100 with diverse expertise – evaluated business cases and selected teams with the most impressive hacks. Winners were selected from eight sub-industries, six technologies and three regions.
Visit SAS Hacker’s Hub to discover business cases from the winning teams.
Award ceremony archived on LinkedIn and YouTube.
Sub-industries | |
Banking | Green Swedbank (Sweden) Rain and flooding spurred by climate change battered Sweden last year. Team members from Swedbank and KPMG created a dashboard in SAS Visual Analytics to assess flood risk to properties for 100-, 200- and 1,000-year flooding scenarios. |
Energy | Innova Data Hub (Spain) Madrid is prioritizing green transportation to reduce deaths linked to traffic emissions. To improve Madrid’s bike service, Innova Data Hub from Innovacion Technology Solution compiled bike usage datasets and used SAS® Viya® predictive modeling to design an optimization solution that can be implemented in less than six minutes to reduce impossibilities by over 90 percent. |
Health & Life Science | The Chart Chasers! (US) Value-based care ties doctors’ paychecks to care efficiency, but doctors are underpaid when mistakes are made in the medical coding process. Team members from InformedHC and Pinnacle Solutions used SAS Viya to build an automated system to uncover lost revenue from mistakes in using the International Classification of Diseases codes. |
Insurance | LiveEO #2 (Germany/Mixed) Dennis Schmargon, head of business development at LiveEO, used SAS analytics, LiveEO and open-source public and commercial satellite data to create a model that monitors and predicts flooding events and empowers insurers to make decisions about risk potential. |
Public Sector | Jakstat (Indonesia) Team Jakstat from StarCore applied SAS and Python to map and optimize COVID financial aid disbursement for the micro-, small and medium-sized businesses that make up 97 percent of Jakarta’s economy. |
Telecom & Media | Funka (Sweden) To improve web form accessibility, team members from Funka Nu AB used computer vision, optical character recognition, machine learning and test automation to create a solution for website owners to evaluate their form’s accessibility and apply solutions by inputting their site’s URL. |
Retail | TrendsPro (US) Team TrendsPro used search engine trend analysis to forecast consumer demand and optimize ad campaigns. The solution allows business owners to allocate inventory, discover the best advertising channels and decide what ads to deploy. |
Mixed/Manufacturing | Notilyze (Netherlands) Notilyze used SAS Viya and SAS Event Stream Processing software to create a tool for food manufacturers that monitors processing and quality control. It allows manufacturers to optimize the manufacturing process for maximum profit while reducing energy consumption and food waste. |
Technologies | |
IOT | Oges (Singapore/India) Accurate reservoir modeling is crucial for oil and gas companies to drill effectively, protect personnel and prevent oil spills. Team members from Oges Solutions incorporated SAS Visual Data Mining and Machine Learning and Python Libraries to create a hyper-accurate AI-based oil reservoir model for oil and gas companies. |
ML | The Positive Thinking Company (Germany/Belgium) Farmers most vulnerable to climate change impacts benefit from inexpensive microinsurance. Using SAS Viya and machine learning technology, The Positive Thinking Company analyzed climate risk in various states in India and built a tool for at-risk farmers to explore how climate change can impact their livelihoods and how microinsurance can help. |
Computer Vision | Funka (Sweden) To improve web form accessibility, team members from Funka Nu AB used computer vision, optical character recognition, machine learning and test automation to create a solution for website owners to evaluate their form’s accessibility and apply solutions by inputting their site’s URL. |
Decisioning | Linktera4Insurance (Turkey) Digitalizing the insurance customer journey reduces paper usage and automates workflows and decision-making for efficient underwriting and claims management. Linktera4Insurance from Link Tera Bilgi Teknolojileri used SAS Viya on Azure to turn insurance data into easy-to-use dashboards and graphs, and automated workflows using Neula Low Code Platform. |
VA | Disaster Response AI (Canada) Natural disasters cause more than 15,000 deaths and cost $173 billion globally per year. Using SAS Viya, Team Disaster Response AI from Deloitte built an interactive map visualization with disaster insights and predictions to advise the Canadian government on how to allocate relief funds. |
Forecasting | Team 4-kasting (Norway) To remain the fastest mobile network in the world, Telenor Norway requires enough network capacity to stay speedy without reaching overcapacity. Team 4-kasting deployed machine learning and visual forecasting to create a system that forecasts expected usage at any site, saving the company millions. |
NLP | The Chart Chasers! (US) Value-based care ties doctors’ paychecks to care efficiency, but doctors are underpaid when mistakes are made in the medical coding process. Team members from InformedHC and Pinnacle Solutions used SAS Viya to build an automated system to uncover lost revenue from mistakes in using the International Classification of Diseases codes. |
Regions | |
Americas | The Chart Chasers! (US) Value-based care ties doctors’ paychecks to care efficiency, but doctors are underpaid when mistakes are made in the medical coding process. Team members from InformedHC and Pinnacle Solutions used SAS Viya to build an automated system to uncover lost revenue from mistakes in using the International Classification of Diseases codes. |
Asia | Jakstat (Indonesia) Team Jakstat from StarCore applied SAS and Python to map and optimize COVID financial aid disbursement for the micro-, small and medium-sized businesses that make up 97 percent of Jakarta’s economy. |
EMEA | Funka (Sweden) To improve web form accessibility, team members from Funka Nu AB used computer vision, optical character recognition, machine learning and test automation to create a solution for website owners to evaluate their form’s accessibility and apply solutions by inputting their site’s URL. |

SAS EXPLORE
A Virtual Event for Technologists
AMERICAS | Sept. 27-29 • ASIA PACIFIC and EMEA | Sept. 28-29
Hack stats at a glance
The hackathon garnered amazing interest and participation from the brightest data scientists and technology enthusiasts worldwide. Their goal: tackle some of the most challenging business and humanitarian issues using SAS Analytics, AI and open source on Microsoft Azure.
1,300 individuals from 75 countries applied.
70 teams representing 135 organizations qualified.
More than 50 teams submitted business cases.
SAS Hackathon overview
We believe that ideas need to be nurtured – which is why our hackathon is unique. The SAS Hackathon isn't a one-time event – it’s a sprint within a marathon that spans several months.
Top six reasons you should participate
- Collaborate with fellow coders: Everyone – from experienced data scientists to novice technologists to partners and SAS experts – will be using SAS and open source on Microsoft Azure.
- Tackle a real-world challenge: Focus on a business or humanitarian issue that is meaningful to you and your team.
- Develop your application for the marketplace: There's an opportunity to potentially commercialize your ideas with SAS.
- Get free enablement resources: Take advantage of coaching on AI, cloud environments and industries with training courses and virtual learning labs.
- Extend your professional network: Our Hacker's Hub connects you with local and global innovators.
- Learn from and partner with industry leaders: Our distinguished mentor program provides guidance and support to teams.
Guidelines
The SAS Hackathon is for developers, students, startup businesses, SAS customers and technology partners. Teams can be made up of people within your organization, your organization and a technology partner, or an individual looking to join a group.
- A description of the real-world challenge – a business or humanitarian issue – that your team is going to tackle is required.
- Technology partners can create teams with customers and students.
- Startups can create teams with customers and students.
- The issue can be a customer’s problem. Customers who work with a technology partner can also be working toward a partnership that leads to a new market together.
- The hackathon is not a proof of concept. We are looking for a new, creative solution that is extendable to the marketplace and society.
Steps for submitting your hackathon application
- Before officially registering:
· Create a SAS profile.
· Do you already have a team?
"Yes, I have a team" - Make sure you and your team have established a team name and one team lead as this will be a required input on the registration page.
"Yes, I'm the team lead" - You will want to know the specific track your team will be participating in. Additionally, describe your team's business case for the hackathon.
"No, I don't have a team" - Our registration form allows us to understand your interests and skills so we can select what team is best for you to join. Our matchmaking team helps guide this process.
- Register, then submit your application. You'll receive an email confirming your registration as well as specific steps you must take before your application is complete. Failure to do so means your application will not be considered.
- Once you've successfully submitted your application, you'll receive an email confirming your completed application. Next, your application will be reviewed by our team and we will reach out to you to confirm the status of your participation.
Have questions about the SAS Hackathon or the registration process? Check out the FAQs on the Hacker's Hub.
Discover innovative hackathon business cases
Past participants in our global hackathon delivered solutions to real-world problems by using big data and AI. See what teams built together and learn more about these outstanding projects. Plus, check out our latest e-book highlighting last year's impactful hackathon projects.
Engage with data enthusiasts
A community just for you
Collaborate with fellow hackers.
Visit communities.sas.com (set up a profile) then subscribe to Hacker’s Hub, a special community designed for the hackathon. You’ll see teams and mentors working together, and the collaboration that comes from tackling problems worth solving.
Get social
Intrigue people and get them excited about your ideas and project.
LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram are great places to share and join in the conversation about the SAS Hackathon. Be sure to use our hashtag #SAShackathon.