Students from Wroclaw University of Science and Technology developed a system for classifying customers and generating special offers, which was rated to be the best in the "Get the Grasp of Big Data" competition organised by Żabka Polska. As a reward, they will visit Silicon Valley.

The main task in the competition was to use Big Data, i.e. large, variable, and diverse data sets, in practice. While processing such a set of information is difficult, with the use of appropriate algorithms, it allows discovering new phenomena or optimising existing processes.

At the very beginning, the three-strong teams taking part in the competition chose one of the eight research problems. These included areas such as sales forecasting, order automation, notification of the times of deliveries to a store, and analysis of the users of Żabka’s application.

The latter issue was addressed by students from the Faculty of Computer Science and Management of Wrocław University of Science and Technology - Paweł Kunicki, Adam Dłubak, and Bartłomiej Lisek. According to the jury, their project was the most innovative, profitable and functional.

The competition was divided into two stages. The first one ended in March, requiring the development of a concept for the whole project, which was then evaluated by the jury. In total, five teams advanced to the finals, which had just over two months to translate their idea into reality.

Among other things, the participants had to present a description of the configuration of the cloud-based analytical environment, then propose a way to analyse the problem using AI methods, and finally prepare a presentation of the whole project. For the purpose of their projects, they could use the information provided by the company, including data related to transport, receipts, statistics, geolocation, and even the weather.

The main prize in the competition is a trip to the Silicon Valley, during which the winners will visit places including the headquarters of Google and AiFi, as well as Stanford University, one of the most prestigious tertiary institutions in the world.

- We decided to take the opportunity to extend our stay by a week. During this time, we are planning to see Los Angeles, Las Vegas, the picturesque national parks of the USA, and perhaps some other places - adds Paweł Kunicki.