In this data challenge, bachelor students from the Business Analytics Bachelor at the University of Amsterdam work on your companies AI and analytics challenges and come up with innovative solutions. Our students are equipped with AI and analytics skills including Coding, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Statistics, Operations Research and Optimization, Econometrics, Natural Language Processing (incl LLMs) as well as business knowledge including HR, Entrepreneurship, Accounting, Finance, and Marketing.

✅ Key features of the challenge

• Program: Bachelor of Business Analytics 
• Course: Bachelor Thesis - Data Challenges 
• Students per team: 2-4 students 
• No. of hours spent: 150 hours per student 
• Duration: April-June
• Supervision: Student teams are supervised and guided by professors and PhD students at the University of Amsterdam.
• Deliverables: Presentation/report with recommendations, dashboard, code repository with a solution algorithm etc. 
• Company time investment: 12-16 hours in total (e.g. kick-off meeting, bi-weekly progress meetings, final presentation, etc.)
• Costs: €750

📑 Challenge Examples

The student teams can work on challenges like, but not limited to, the following:

• Forecasting travel patterns for better holiday package pricing strategies.
• Optimizing which location to build health centers in a city.
• Designing and assessing the performance of Large Language Models in solving business problems. 
• Develop algorithms for optimal production planning.
• Support operations by providing credit risk predictions of clients.

🏢 Company requirement

• Any company (startup/scale-up/corporate/incubator/NGO) with an AI and/or data related challenge that fits the scope of a 12-week project for 2-4 students. 
• Data for the challenge is supplied by your organization before project start (ie in March).
• The challenge is related to AI and/or analytics and has business/organizational relevance.

💰 Costs

We charge an administrative fee of €750 (excl VAT). This fee covers the administrative costs of coordinating and managing the data challenge. An invoice for the fee will only be sent after the project is matched with students (typically in April). 

This fee is waived for startups, SMEs, non-profits, governmental organisations and educational institutions.

📨 How to apply

You can submit the challenge directly through the website. Provide a title and a challenge description. Subsequently, briefly elaborate on your challenge. See link for a template you could use. Do you need some help with formulating your challenge? Feel free to schedule a short call to discuss your initial ideas. Or use the challenge generator as a first step: https://masterchallenge.me/challenge-generator.

🗓 Planning

• 14 Feb 2025: Deadline for submitting your challenge.
• 20 Feb 2025: Receiving message if your challenge is approved by the Course Coordinator.
• March 2025: Match with students who will work on your project. 
• April - June 2025: Students work on the projects and collaborate with you along the way. 
• July 2025: Final presentations and deliverables presented to you by the students at an event hosted at the University of Amsterdam campus! 

📞 Learn more

Learn more in our brochure. And feel free to reach out to Inez Zwetsloot (course coordinator at UvA) with any questions. You can reach her at i.m.zwetsloot@uva.nl or feel free to schedule a short call directly to discuss your questions and ideas.