SAS Curiosity Cup celebrates global student excellence in data and AI for its fifth year

What drives volatility in global markets? How can data predict ecological tipping points in urban environments? What impact does social media have on students’ mental health and academic performance? These are among the questions explored in the 2026 Curiosity Cup, a global data science competition sponsored by data and AI leader SAS.

Now in its fifth year, the Curiosity Cup continues to grow in scale and impact. A record-breaking number of teams representing 20 countries participated in the 2026 competition, bringing together 452 students from universities around the world. Thirty-seven industry consultants served as judges, reviewing written research papers and evaluating finalist video presentations.

This year, the Curiosity Cup introduced updated competition categories while maintaining its rigorous evaluation criteria. Student teams were assessed on data preparation, analysis and presentation, and selected one of three research focus areas for their submissions: Business and Economy; Health, Science and Engineering; or Culture, Lifestyle and Entertainment. Full details on the winning teams, research questions and videos are available on the SAS Curiosity Cup webpage.

“We’re very happy and proud to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Curiosity Cup. Once again, we saw a record‑breaking level of participation, with 138 teams competing. Jury members noted the exceptionally high quality of the submitted papers,” said Dr. Jürgen Kaselowsky, Director of Global Academic Programs at SAS. “At many universities, participation has become a tradition, with teams from those institutions taking part year after year. At the same time, it’s exciting to see new schools joining for the very first time. Students love competitions.”

Industry experts selected one winning team in each category:

Business and Economy
Winner: UCCU, New York University (US)
Paper: Evaluating a Residual‑Based Hybrid Volatility Framework: Cross‑Market Evidence from US VIX Data

Health, Science and Engineering
Winner: STATYX, FEU Institute of Technology (Philippines)
Paper: Threshold of Urban Biodiversity Collapse: Forecasting Ecological Tipping Points Under Artificial Light at Night and Other Environmental Covariates Using Avian Indicators

Culture, Lifestyle and Entertainment
Winner: Statistix & Chill, Bratislava University of Economics and Business (Slovakia)
Paper: The Effect of Social Media on Mental Health and Academic Performance of Students

Visit SAS Academic Programs to learn more about how SAS helps foster curiosity and real-world data skills for the next generation of data scientists.

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