SAS Hackathon 2025 champions spark innovation, improve lives

Using the latest in data and AI, teams excel across industries, regions and technologies

CARY, N.C., Dec. 11, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- SAS, a leader in data and AI, has announced the champions of the 2025 SAS Hackathon across 24 regional, industry, technology and specialty categories.

This year's fifth global SAS Hackathon boasted a record 2,058 registrants representing 708 organizations, universities and SAS Partners from 66 countries. This led to 125 approved teams supported by 134 SAS mentors, with many mentors working with multiple teams.

During the monthlong SAS Hackathon, teams of data scientists, developers, business analysts and students come together – often virtually across countries, regions and even continents – to collaborate and compete while solving business and social challenges. The teams network, learn from each other and SAS mentors, and experiment with technologies that spark innovation and improve lives.

SAS produces the annual SAS Hackathon, which is sponsored by Microsoft and Intel.

Experiencing the latest in AI
Among the technologies SAS Hackathon teams have hands-on access to are:

• SAS^® Viya^®, SAS' cloud-native and cloud-agnostic data and AI platform.
• SAS Viya Workbench, a cloud-based developer environment for building AI models.
• SAS Data Maker, a secure synthetic data generator.

"The SAS Hackathon is an effective way for people of varying job roles and experience to experiment with the very latest in traditional, generative and agentic AI technologies and expand their AI skills," said Peter Lundqvist, Global Program Manager for the SAS Hackathon. "Today's SAS Hackathon champions show what's possible when passionate and innovative people come together to address big business and social challenges with those skills. I'm so proud of all SAS Hackathon participants and what they have accomplished."

Overall champion?
While SAS has announced category champions today, the overall SAS Hackathon champion will be named at SAS Innovate 2026, the SAS data and AI conference, April 27-30, 2026, in Grapevine, Texas (near Dallas).

2025 SAS Hackathon category champions
A panel of AI and analytics experts chose the SAS Hackathon champions. More than 100 judges selected champions by region, industry, technology and specialty categories.

To learn more about each champion team and view videos of their projects, visit the SAS Hacker's Hub community and search by team name.

Regional champions

• Americas – Change Bringers [US, India and Hong Kong]. Parkinson's disease (PD) affects more than 10 million people globally, and that number is expected to double by 2040. Using SAS Viya, SAS Model Studio and Python tools, this team developed Neuro Drift, an AI-powered solution that monitors subtle changes in PD symptoms using wearables, smartphones and clinical data. Neuro Drift makes PD detection more accessible, data-driven and continuous.
• Emerging Middle East & Asia Pacific – BloCKUbe [South Korea]. This team of graduate students used SAS Viya, SAS Visual Analytics and Python tools to support adoption of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and create a cleaner, greener sky. The team's models optimized SAF supply chains, analyzing diverse data from flights, fuel raw materials, demand forecasting and airline fuel use. The models helped the team identify the best locations for SAF refineries and production plants, while also optimizing flight operations and routing.
• Europe – Minority Reporters [Italy]. In a world where increasing fraud threatens trust in financial systems, this team created Agatha, an AI voice agent that protects customers and their accounts. Built with SAS Model Studio, SAS Intelligent Decisioning, SAS Viya Workbench and SAS Visual Analytics, Agatha proactively calls customers (in their own language). The agent verifies suspicious transactions, investigates possible fraud attempts and takes immediate protective actions.

Global industry champions

• Banking – Consortix-AURORA [Hungary]. Addressing the often slow and manual process for banks to introduce new anti-money laundering (AML) scenarios, this team from SAS Partner Consortix created an agentic AI solution using SAS Viya and Python. Built with a host of SAS technologies, including SAS Viya Workbench, SAS Anti-Money Laundering and SAS Data Maker, the solution transforms free-text AML rules into executable scenarios, validates and tests them, and recalibrates alert scoring models on historical data. Designed to accelerate and clarify AML processes without replacing human judgment, the solution integrates governance and explainable AI to ensure fairness, transparency and accountability.
• Energy – Decathon [Malaysia]. With power outages costing $150 billion annually in the US alone, and demand for energy rising worldwide, this team of students from the Asia Pacific Institute of Information Technology wanted to create a smarter, more proactive energy grid. Using SAS Viya and open-source tools, the team built LUCID, which acts as a nervous system for the smart grid. LUCID analyzes continuous signals from IoT devices and makes the grid smart enough to sense, predict and heal itself while reducing renewable energy waste, lowering operational costs and minimizing unplanned outages.
• Health Care & Life Sciences – DementAI [UK]. More than 55 million people worldwide live with dementia. Early diagnosis and increased awareness are essential for effective dementia management and better support for families. This team from SAS Partner Katalyze Data created a data-driven solution that blends classic machine learning, large language models (LLMs), synthetic data and AI agents to improve early dementia detection and treatment. Among the technologies the team deployed were SAS Viya, SAS Data Maker, SAS Viya Workbench, and Python and R open-source tools.
• Insurance – Delphi [Greece]. Using SAS Dynamic Actuarial Modeling running on SAS Viya and Python tools, this team transformed fragmented, high-frequency economic data into strategic foresight and real-time insights. Insurers can use the team's GDP Nowcasting solution to respond faster to macroeconomic changes, optimize risk-adjusted returns and maintain regulatory resilience.
• Internet of Things (IoT) Cross-Industry – Cary NC [US]. This growing North Carolina town wanted to use data and AI to optimize the placement of new electric vehicle (EV) chargers. The team used SAS SpeedyStore, which embeds the database from SAS Partner SingleStore into SAS Viya, as well as SAS Viya Workbench, SAS model cards and SAS Viya Copilot. The team's data-driven solution analyzed data on traffic patterns, employment and resident density along with current EV locations and zoning information to identify the best locations for new EV chargers.
• Public Sector – AIA Squad [Peru]. This team from SAS Partner BCTS Consulting wanted to address a challenge close to home: protecting Peru's tourism legacy through data and intelligence. The team's Tourism Intelligence Platform provides authorities with new ways to listen, predict and respond, helping improve the visitor experience and increase sustainability. The platform is built with SAS Viya, SAS Studio, SAS Visual Forecasting and SAS Visual Analytics, as well as OpenAI LLMs and Python tools.
• Retail, Consumer Goods & Manufacturing – PC Cake [Canada]. This team from retailer Loblaw Companies reimagined retail forecasting by integrating sales data with carbon footprint tracking. The team's solution predicts product sales while estimating the environmental impact of packaging materials. Using an interactive Viya dashboard, planners can track CO2 emissions, monitor extended producer responsibility (EPR) fees and test future scenarios, helping the business be sustainable and competitive.
•  Telecom – TMO-FCRM [US]. This team from T-Mobile aimed to help customers get more value from T-Engage, a mobile app where customers can manage accounts, explore services and access personalized offers. The team built a machine learning model in SAS Viya to predict app engagement using synthetic demographic and behavioral data. The model helped unlock opportunities to enhance personalized marketing and deliver a better customer experience.

Global technology champions

• Agentic AI/Decisioning – Consortix-AURORA [Hungary]. See description above.
• Computer Vision – OTSI-SAS [India]. Aiming to improve airport efficiency and better predict and manage passenger flow, this team from global consultancy and SAS Partner OTSI turned to SAS Viya and computer vision. The team's solution uses streaming IoT video data and advanced analytics to dynamically detect queues and recommend gate adjustments that optimize staff, reduce congestion and delays, and reduce wait times. The result? An enhanced passenger experience.
• Forecasting – Woodpecker Agents [Singapore]. This team from SAS Partner Woodpecker Analytics and Services has created an agentic AI solution that seeks to make forecasting as easy as having a conversation. The team's WPIntellichat platform integrates SAS Viya and agentic AI to help bank analysts generate accurate models to forecast loan demand, automatically debug queries and summarize insights – all through simple natural language queries and without advanced programming or forecasting expertise.
• Models – DementAI [UK] See description above.
• Natural Language Processing (NLP) – Minority Reporters [Italy]. See description above.
• SAS Viya Workbench – Finext & Oakland University [Netherlands and US]. The team's project focused on transforming advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) data into energy insights and proactive grid management. Leveraging SAS Viya, the team analyzed AMI data, explored load distribution and optimized grid performance to reduce imbalances. For energy companies, this AI-driven approach means faster decisions, more stable operations and better use of existing infrastructure. For consumers, it means reliable, affordable and predictable energy.
• Visualization – SASDataScout [Italy]. This team from Iconsulting developed a data-driven scouting solution for soccer players, built with SAS Viya. The solution integrates event data and advanced analytics to objectively evaluate performance and uncover similarities between players. By leveraging SAS Visual Analytics, the team created intuitive, interactive dashboards that make complex insights accessible to coaches and recruiters. With these insights, teams can identify tactical profiles that match their specific needs and make faster, more reliable recruitment decisions.

Global special award champions

•  Channel Ready – Super SAIJAN (Smart Artificial Intelligence for JAkartaNs) [Indonesia]. Through Jakarta's AI-powered super app, JAKI, residents can report issues ranging from illegal parking to emergency situations. This team, with members from Jakarta Smart City and SAS Partner StarCore Analytics, uses SAS Viya to analyze each report, filtering duplicates, flagging anomalies and, when validated, sending them to field officers for follow-up. This data and AI-driven approach helps the city ensure that citizens are heard, resources are allocated efficiently and public services are responsive, transparent and reliable.
• Data for Good – DementAI [UK]. See description above.
• Sustainability – Finext & Oakland University [Netherlands and US]. See description above.
• Trustworthy AI – Consortix-AURORA [Hungary]. See description above.
• UX: Excellence in User Experience – Ratio Team [Italy]. This team from SAS Partner Rationence developed a computer vision model that promotes urban accessibility for all people, including those with disabilities. Powered by SAS Viya and open-source tools, the model demonstrates exceptional usability and design thinking. It detects objects – steps, stairs, ramps and grab bars – with extreme precision in thousands of photos from public repositories. The model offers a concrete way to improve how barriers are detected and managed in cities.

Global student track champion

• Student – Alan Nguyen, Northeastern University [US]. For the first time, students could enter the SAS Hackathon in the Student Individual track. Participants used Cortex, an analytics simulation game developed by SAS with HEC Montréal, Canada's first business school, to tackle a fundraising challenge.

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