We’re excited to partner with Melbourne Business School, SAS and AWS to launch the MBS Centre for Business Analytics inaugural ‘Business Analytics Datathon’ event on the 1st of July.
Held across the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of July and with $25,000 up for grabs in prize money, the MBS Datathon will give participating teams access to powerful tools and datasets for them to develop and compete on analytics solutions which demonstrate the power of data to transform decision making for public and private sector problems.
Data Republic co-founder and CEO Paul McCarney said, “We are delighted to be partnering with the Melbourne Business School to make this unique Datathon possible. This is the first event of its kind to open up so many rich private sector datasets for Datathon participants to combine with open government data to really innovate on challenge concepts. Data innovation in Australia is something we’re very passionate about at Data Republic, so I’m pleased our platform is being leveraged to provide secure, privacy compliant data access to these teams.
Check out the full press release below for details:
28th June 2017
MELBOURNE BUSINESS SCHOOL PARTNERS WITH DATA REPUBLIC, SAS AND AWS TO HOST DATATHON AIMED AT BOOSTING VICTORIAN PRODUCTIVITY AND HEALTH OUTCOMES
Melbourne Business School (MBS) has partnered with Data Republic, SAS and AWS to launch the MBS Centre for Business Analytics inaugural ‘Business Analytics Datathon’ event aimed at creating innovative data solutions which improve the health and productivity outcomes of Victoria.
Held across the weekend of the 1st and 2nd of July and with $25,000 up for grabs in prize money, the MBS Datathon will give participating teams access to powerful tools and datasets for them to develop and compete on analytics solutions which demonstrate the power of data to transform decision making for public and private sector problems.
In a first for Australian datathon or hackathon events, Melbourne Business School’s partnership with Data Republic will allow teams to analyse and combine major private and public sector datasets, including anonymous, aggregated transactional banking data contributed by Westpac Banking Corporation, basket-level grocery data from Australia’s largest independent grocer network and Qantas Loyalty program data with de-identified open government health data, to develop and compete on data solutions aimed at improving social and economic outcomes in Victoria.
Advanced analytics software provider and Datathon sponsor, SAS, will be providing teams with access to their next generation data management, advanced analytics and visualisation platform, SAS® Viya™, to make analysis of these major datasets simple and efficient.
AWS is donating cloud credits for the Datathon, which has attracted over 250 participants who will compete in 60+ teams.
A panel of experts, including representatives from the Victorian Government, will judge submissions and award prizes at Melbourne Business School’s ‘Business Analytics Conference’ on July 13th.
MBS Centre for Business Analytics Executive Director, Mark Alexander, said, “Our vision is to ‘Transform decision making through business analytics’. The Datathon is the perfect vehicle to showcase what is possible through advanced analytics as the final pitches take place in front of 350-400 of Australia’s top corporates during the finale of our prestigious ‘Business Analytics Conference’. We have partnered with the Victorian Government and world-class brands such as SAS, AWS and Data Republic to deliver a premium event attracting Australia’s top analytics talent to solve a very real business problem applying analytics to never-before-combined disparate data sets.”
“We were very pleased to be invited to contribute to the Melbourne Business School and Data Republic Datathon initiative,” said David Bowie, Vice President of SAS Australia and New Zealand. “SAS already collaborates with MBS’ world class research into advanced analytics for business, and to support the School’s Master of Business Analytics degree program.” Bowie added, “Use of the Viya open platform is particularly appropriate for the Datathon because it will enable teams to use the tools of their choice, without constraint, and share their analytics efforts for optimum productivity.”
Data Republic co-founder and CEO Paul McCarney said, “We are delighted to be partnering with the Melbourne Business School to make this unique Datathon possible. This is the first event of its kind to open up so many rich private sector datasets for Datathon participants to combine with open government data to really innovate on challenge concepts. Data innovation in Australia is something we’re very passionate about at Data Republic, so I’m pleased our platform is being leveraged to provide secure, privacy compliant data access to these teams.”
Datathon challenge parameters will be released to teams at the start of the Datathon on July 1st.
For more information on the Datathon visit: http://datathon.melbourneanalytics.com/. Team registrations have now closed, for further enquiries contact: Mark.Alexander@mbs.edu
ABOUT DATA REPUBLIC
Data Republic is a data exchange technology platform and marketplace where organisations can list, exchange and collaborate on data projects in a secure environment. Exchanges are conducted on The Open Data Marketplace, a central governance platform and secure marketplace for Data Republic’s Contributors and users to discover, request and effectively govern data exchange projects with authorised parties. No customer personal information (PII) is available on the platform and all exchanges are strictly governed on legal and ethical bases and subject to Data Republic’s Legal Participation Agreement. Find out more about Data Republic here: https://www.datarepublic.com/
ABOUT THE CENTRE FOR BUSINESS ANALYTICS
The Centre for Business Analytics (CfBA) was founded by Melbourne Business School (MBS) in 2014 to address the worldwide demand for analytics research and knowledge. The vision of the multi-disciplinary Centre is to ‘Transform Decision Making through Business Analytics’.
The Centre creates collaboration amongst students, faculty, and industry leaders to deliver both academic and business impact, and investigates how data – small or big – can drive organisational success through fact-based, data-driven, proactive decision making. The Centre for Business Analytics also delivers executive educational programs in Analytics, collaborative workshops and our Master of Business Analytics program. Find out more about CfBA here: http://cfba.mbs.edu/