The University of Milan-Bicocca and KNIME, the open-source company specialising in data science, are pleased to announce the launch of the ‘Machine Learning Challenge’ in the 2022/2023 academic year. The initiative will involve the students of the Machine Learning course led by Prof. Fabio Stella and part of the Master’s Degree Course in Data Science of the Department of Informatics, Systematics and Communication.
The gamification of learning has been shown to increase student engagement, foster long-term learning acquisition and improve overall performance. In line with the above-mentioned goals, the collaboration is part of KNIME’s Programme for the Gamification of Learning, coordinated by the KNIME Educators Alliance, which aims to promote and implement playful initiatives, such as competitions, learnathons and hackathons, in order to support data culture and data literacy in higher and university education. KNIME’s free and open-source no-code/low-code analytics platform, together with its vibrant community, enables KNIME’s expert users and the world of higher education and research to pass on knowledge of advanced data analysis techniques to future professionals.
The student competition follows the example of past student competitions held at the LUISS Guido Carli University in Rome (by Prof. Francisco Villarroel) and the Technische Hochschule in Cologne (by Prof. Tobias Schlüter). As in previous editions, the University of Milan-Bicocca is defining the theme and goals of the competition, as well as providing the data. KNIME, for its part, is offering training, practical professional skills, prizes and certifications for the three finalist teams. The technical jury is composed both of representatives from the University – Prof. Gabriella Pasi (Director of the Department of Informatics, Systematics and Communication), Prof. Andrea Maurino (Director of the Master’s Degree Course in Data Science) and Prof. Fabio Stella – and KNIME professionals – Rosaria Silipo (Data Science Evangelism Manager), and Roberto Cadili (Data Scientist). The jury members will jointly assess the projects and decide on the winning team based on the accuracy, complexity, clarity, usability, and completeness of their documentation.
The theme of the competition is ‘Predicting the onset of diabetes using machine learning algorithms’. Over 80 students divided into 23 teams took part. Projects were submitted on 17 February. KNIME Analytics Platform, KNIME’s open-source data analysis platform, was chosen as the competition’s analytical tool due to its versatility, comprehensiveness and accessibility.
The competition prizes include:
- An opportunity for the three finalist teams to publicly present their projects at Data Connect Italia on 13 April 2023, the hybrid format event of the KNIME community in Italy.
- An opportunity for the winning team to do an internship at one of KNIME’s locations in Europe as part of the Erasmus programme.
“At KNIME,” commented Rosaria Silipo, Head of Data Science Evangelism at KNIME, “we are thrilled to start collaborating with the University of Milan-Bicocca. This is a unique opportunity to introduce new elements, experiences and tools into the data science degree course and to forge increasingly strong relationships between the academia and business worlds.”
KNIME connects the worlds of dashboards and advanced analysis through an intuitive interface suitable for anyone working with data. It enables an increasing number of executives and business experts to be self-sufficient and data professionals to equip the company with cutting-edge technologies for modern data science, integrating the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques. KNIME is distinguished by its open-source philosophy that ensures easy adoption, access, and integration of all new technologies.