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🏆 Announcing the Top 3 Winners of the Databricks Smart Business Insights Challenge
Over 700 data and business practitioners across Asia Pacific & Japan came together to build AI-powered solutions using Databricks’ low-code AI/BI tools. From predictive dashboards to workflow automation, teams pushed the boundaries of what's possible, and fast.
After weeks of experimentation, collaboration, and judging, here are the top 3 winners leading the shift to smarter insights:
🥇 Puma Energy
Smarter retail across emerging markets
A unified dashboard integrating 15+ KPIs, LLM-powered summaries, and predictive forecasting to drive retail ops across regions.
🥈 Bupa Australia
AI for proactive customer care
A real-time anomaly engine that flags emotional mismatches in customer feedback to help teams act before issues escalate.
🥉 CASETiFY
Optimizing creative with AI
An AI-powered tool that auto-tags ad creatives and ties them to performance, helping marketers uncover what really works.
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⏳ Deadline Extended!
Due to strong interest and multiple team requests, we’re extending the submission deadline for the Databricks AI/BI Smart Business Insights Challenge to Tuesday, 3 June at 5PM SGT. Take this extra time to polish your project and put forward your best work!
🚀 Transform Data into Intelligence. Shape the Future of AI & BI.
AI and BI are transforming the way businesses make decisions - but are you making the most of them? Welcome to the Databricks Smart Business Insights Challenge, in collaboration with AWS, where business users, analysts, data pros, and AI innovators team up to turn data into powerful insights using Databricks’ latest AI/BI tools - Genie Spaces, AI/BI Dashboards, and more!
🧰 Your Toolkit for Innovation: Tap into Databricks’ cutting-edge AI/BI capabilities to solve real-world challenges:
- AI/BI Dashboards - Instant insights at scale
- Genie Spaces - Conversational AI for data exploration
- Databricks Apps - Embed intelligence into business workflows
- Platform Integration - Unified governance, security, and seamless data connectivity
🎯 Why Join?
- Eligible teams get USD400 in credits to get started, first-come, first served!
- Up to USD19,000 in Total Prizes, including cash awards, training coupons, trophies, and exclusive opportunities to be featured in Databricks events or blogs.
- Hands-on AI/BI Databricks Experience:
- Dive into AI/BI with Databricks’ intuitive low-code and no-code solutions for a seamless and interactive experience
- Create powerful, quick visualisation for your data science/AI projects to turn data into actionable insights
- Design and build scalable AI/BI solution for broader and more impact audience within your organisation
- 4x Free Training Sessions (worth USD3000) across AI/BI dashboard, Genie, SQL Analytics & BI, plus live expert support
- Win tickets to Data + AI Summit 2026 in San Francisco
Want to Join? Check if You Qualify!
✅ Who can join?
- Must be part of an organization (corporate email required).
- Must form a team of 2-4 people to participate.
❌ Who can’t join?
- Databricks partners, consultants, or students.
- Government employees or those working for government-controlled entities.
🌏 Eligible Countries:
Australia, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
Review the official rules for complete eligibility criteria.
Eligibility Criteria
- Ages18+
- GenderAll genders
- Teams2 - 4 members
- ProfileProfessional
- Regions
Only specific countries/territories
Australia, Hong Kong S.A.R., India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam
Challenge Theme
Each theme has its own challenge statements, and picking one is required for submission. So choose your favourite, and let's get innovating!
Theme: AI/BI
Welcome to the AI/BI Hackathon, where innovation meets impact! This year, we’re challenging participants to build powerful AI/BI solutions using cutting-edge tools like AI/BI Dashboards, Genie Spaces, Databricks Apps, and platform integrations that offer unified governance, enterprise-grade security, and instant insights at scale. These capabilities unlock the potential for businesses and communities to solve complex Data and AI problems. We are offering TWO submission options for participants, as below. Each theme has its own challenge statements, and picking one is required for submission. So choose your favourite, and let's get innovating!
Challenge Statements
- Leverage open data to create an AI BI solution that tackles a social impact issue such as climate change resilience, public health insights, economic inequality analysis, and energy consumption optimisation.
For instance, analyse the accessibility of public healthcare facilities for the elderly by combining datasets on healthcare locations and demographics using Singapore’s open data portal [https://data.gov.sg/]. This project could highlight underserved areas, guiding policy decisions to improve access and quality of care for Singapore’s aging population.
- Leverage your own data to solve a real life business problem in a specific industry.
One example is using Databricks’ system tables to track and analyse different teams' consumption costs, enabling more efficient resource management. [https://www.databricks.com/resources/demos/tutorials/governance/system-tables] Another example (for advanced users): Build your AI BI solution into an application using the Databricks Apps, showcasing how integrated tools can deliver end-to-end insights and functionality
Timeline
- Registration Period: Monday, 7 April 2025, 11AM SGT to Friday, 30 May 2025, 5PM SGT
- Submission Period: Monday, 7 April 2025, 11AM SGT to Friday, 3 June 2025, 5PM SGT
- Judging Period: Monday, 5 June 2025, 9AM SGT to Wednesday, 18 June 2025, 5PM SGT
- Winners Announced: Week of 23 June 2025
Submissions Requirements
To participate in the Databricks Smart Business Insights Challenge, your submission must include:
- Project/Team Name, Participant names, country of submission
- Project description: Explain the use case, solution, features, and functionality of your project
- A functional demonstration video URL (maximum 5 mins) that:
- Introduce your team, the industry & topic chosen, and why it matters
- Explain the dataset and (optional) model used
- Walk through your AI/BI solution: how you designed it, including techniques used to build the dashboard and tune Genie Spaces
- Show how users interact with your solution and the workflow to solve the problem you’re addressing
- The project must incorporate Databricks technologies to build an AI/BI use case. This may include AI/BI dashboards, Genie Spaces, Databricks Apps, etc.
- Participants can use a dataset of their choice, leveraging open-source data sources and datasets available on the Databricks Marketplace
- (Optional) URL to your Public and Open-source GitHub Repository for the Project
- The GitHub repository must show that the Project was built during the Hackathon Submission Period, include an open-source license, and be publicly visible.
Please review the official rules for the complete list of submission requirements.
Judging Criteria
Business Applicability (20%)
- Does the solution effectively address a real business problem within its industry? How impactful is this use case for decision-making and business operations?
Creativity & Innovation (20%)
- Is this a novel and original idea, or does it replicate existing solutions?
- Does it introduce unique AI/BI capabilities that differentiate it from standard approaches?
Data Storytelling & Narrative (20%)
- Does the solution tell a story with an impactful narrative that resonates with stakeholders and ensures that the value of the solution is fully realised across the organisation?
Technical Capability (20%)
- Does the solution integrate both Databricks AI/BI functionalities effectively?
- Is it designed to scale efficiently, handling larger datasets and broader use cases?
User Experience & Insights (20%)
- Is the application intuitive and easy to use for end users?
- Does it present relevant and actionable insights in a clear and effective way?
Prizes
First Prize Winner:
- USD 7,000 per team
- 1st Prize Trophy
- Complimentary DAIS 2026 conference ticket per winning member
- Potential Blog/Case Study with Databricks and presentation at upcoming Databricks or sponsored event
- USD 3000 worth of Databricks Training Coupons per team
Second Prize Winner:
- USD 3,000 per team
- 2nd Prize Trophy
- Potential Blog/Case Study with Databricks and presentation at upcoming Databricks or sponsored event
- USD 3000 worth of Databricks Training Coupons per team
Third Prize Winner:
- 3rd Prize Trophy
- Potential Blog/Case Study with Databricks
- USD 3000 worth of Databricks Training Coupons per team
Links
Hackathon event terms and service URL
Hackathon event Rules URL
Welcome to the Databricks Smart Business Insights Challenge!
To help you and your team get started and succeed, we’ve put together this checklist of important steps and upcoming enablement resources.
👥 1. Form Your Team (2–4 Members) - Mandatory
If you haven’t already, now’s the time to start forming your team within your organization! Each team should consist of 2 to 4 participants. Team collaboration is a core part of this challenge, so don’t wait too long to get started.
👉 Need help finding or building a team? Check out this step-by-step Guide on the Hackathon Team Formation
🔓 2. Get Access: Apply for Your Databricks Express Account
Apply for your Databricks Express Account (USD 400 credits per team) here:
📌 Only one team member needs to apply.
🔁 Codes will be distributed from 21 April, and then within 72 hours of your application if eligible.
🎥 3. Watch the Onboarding Video (Coming Soon)
Watch this quick video for a step-by-step guide on setting up your Databricks Express workspace.
You'll learn how to navigate the workspace, add team members, monitor usage, and follow best practices to stay within your credit limit.
📚 4. Join Free Trainings & Office Hours (5–30 May 2025)
Gain hands-on knowledge across AI/BI, SQL Analytics, Data Engineering, and Warehousing.
Sign up for any training sessions below that suit your schedule:
- AI/BI for Self Service Analytics (14 & 27 May)
- Get Started with SQL Analytics and BI on Databricks (13, 16, 21 & 29 May)
- Get Started with Databricks for Data Engineering (14, 20 & 26 May)
- Get Started with Databricks for Data Warehousing (26 May)
Sign up for the office hours here - bring your questions and get help from Databricks experts:
- Office Hour #1 (9 May)
- Office Hour #2 (28 May)
📖 5. Stay Inspired: Read Our Latest Blogs
Here are some curated reads to give you an edge:
- Onboarding your new AI/BI Genie: Focuses on how to onboard and use AI/BI Genie effectively, providing examples of configuring Genie to learn from table metadata and how business users can self-serve insights without heavy technical dependencies.
- Announcing Public Preview of AI/BI Genie Conversation APIs: Introduces the Public Preview of Genie Conversation APIs, showcasing how users can use natural language within various tools like Slack, Teams, and SharePoint to self-serve insights.
- Magic in the Data: Data Curation for AI/BI Genie:Discusses best practices for setting up Genie Spaces, including data curation processes, defining data, tactical reasoning, and ensuring clean outputs aligned with business needs.
- What’s New in AI/BI Dashboards - Fall ’24: Outlines updates to AI/BI Dashboards, including the integration of AI/BI Genie within dashboards to answer follow-up questions and dynamically generate insights.
- Next-Level Interactivity in AI/BI Dashboards: Covers advanced interactive features such as:Cross-filtering for dynamic data exploration, Static widget parameters for filtered visualizations from the same dataset.Query-based parameters and improved dashboard performance techniques like query caching
- How to Embed AI/BI Dashboards Into Your Websites and Applications:Discusses embedding AI/BI Dashboards into third-party platforms via iframes, enabling secure, seamless data integration and access through tools like SharePoint, Confluence, and Salesforce. It provides steps for embedding dashboards with optimized performance and secure access controls
📂 Sample Datasets to Jumpstart Your Project
Need a starting point? Try these free sample datasets across industries:
📊 Singapore’s open data portal
- Access 4000+ Singapore’s open datasets from 70 government agencies across Economy, Environment, Housing, Health, Transport, Education, Social, Arts & Culture and more!
- https://beta.data.gov.sg/
Industries Data Sets
🛒 Retail & Consumer Goods (RCG)
- https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/0a82f0ae-1709-4313-80f0-cdc8b29382bb/Crisp-Inc_CPG-Retail-and-Distributor-Data-Samples
- https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/75408869-a42d-4da9-8ad5-d8c9d369a6e0/PredictHQ_Curated-Global-Intelligent-Event-Data
- https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/8950caec-f1bc-44eb-b0b8-7a9a394a71ba/Bond-Brand-Loyalty_Bonds-Loyalty-Data-Append
💰 Financial Services
- GDELT: https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/01c3af8c-6dac-49ed-a4fc-6393d8887d5a/The-GDELT-Project_GDELT-10-Event-Database
- Accuweather: https://marketplace.databricks.com/?searchKey=accuweather&sortBy=date
🏥 Healthcare
- John Snow Labs - Social Determinants of Health (SDOH): https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/4250b900-0b84-4b5a-8992-244e8effdb29/John-Snow-Labs_Social-Determinants-of-Health
- FinThrive - Hospital Claims and Remittance Data: https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/13340a87-3e6b-45fa-b23d-24fec668cbc8/FinThrive-Healthcare_Hospital-Claims-and-Remittance-Data
- Hugging Face - MedText: https://huggingface.co/datasets/BI55/MedText
- Not on Marketplace, but is a medical diagnosis dataset containing over 1000 top notch textbook quality patient presentations and diagnosis/treatments.
- All Free Healthcare Datasets on Databricks Marketplace: https://marketplace.databricks.com/?asset=Data%20set&category=Health&isFree=true&sortBy=date
🏭 Manufacturing & Energy
- Accuweather: https://marketplace.databricks.com/?searchKey=accuweather&sortBy=date
- Crux: Commodities Futures Trading Commission: https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/faf8cfc6-8f29-42fe-a429-c2ba0d069a5e/Commodity-Futures-Trading-Commission_Commodities-Futures-Trading-Commission-Current
- Rearc Container Port Traffic: https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/256b03d1-3cf8-4669-ad54-b946e8fedf8c/Rearc_Container-Port-Traffic-TEU-World-Bank-Open-Data
📺 Communications, Media, & Entertainment
- Yobi AI: https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/3a33d997-d879-4f55-b78b-3b9fcec880d5/Yobi-AI_Consumer-Behavior-Data-Enrichment-PreTrained-Features-US-Consumer-Data-Decision-Graph-Sample-
- Accuweather: https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/6887ce2c-70cc-4221-91b7-1f5de7588c61/AccuWeather_Improve-Relevance-through-Weather-Targeting-Demo
- PredictHQ: https://marketplace.databricks.com/details/eef8cff7-d7cc-4d7c-a0de-d0f1e905be30/PredictHQ_Intelligent-Event-Data-Sample-Unscheduled-Events-California
There are no participants matching your criteria at the moment, but keep exploring or adjust your filters to broaden your search. The perfect team members are out there waiting for you!
Daniel Miller
RVP, Sales GTM - APJ | Databricks
Eason Gao
Product Manager, AI/BI Dashboard | Databricks
Jonathan Choi
Lead Specialist Solutions Architect | Databricks
Nicholas Eayrs
VP, Field Engineering - APJ | Databricks
Raela Wang
Field Engineering Director | Databricks
Snehil Pandey
Field Engineering Manager | DatabricksWhat does the challenge/hackathon start, and when does it end?
A: The challenge begins on 7 April 2025, submission deadline is on 3 June 2025, 5PM SGT.
Do I need to build it using Databricks?
A: Yes, you must be using Databricks to qualify for a prize.
I don’t have a Databricks account. How can I get it?
A: Apply for a Databricks Express Account using the google form supplied or create a trial account.
When do I get my Databricks Express Account?
A: The code will start to be distributed to participants when the hackathon/submission period begins. You may apply on the Google form found in the "Checklist" tab of the hackathon page after registering for the hackathon. The code will be distributed starting from 21st April, and on an ongoing basis 72 hours after you apply if you are eligible.
How do I form teams?
Refer to this guide for detailed instructions on forming a team on the website.
What is the judging criteria?
A: Projects will be judged based on the 5 criteria below, with equal weightage. Full details can be found on the hackathon website.
- Business Applicability
- Creativity & Innovation
- User Experience & Insights
- Technical capability
- Data Storytelling & Narrative
Will I have support for the hackathon?
A: Please join our discord channel to have live support for the event! We will have local SAs help out with any technical questions you may have for the event. However, you may also have dedicated account teams for your company as well if you reach out to your fellow sales team.
Will there be office hours?
A: Yes there will be two office hours in the month of May where you can get live support and help with regards to the hackathon challenges. Make sure to register for the office hours in order to participate.
Will there be training on how to build an AI/BI app on Databricks?
A: For the participants of the hackathon, we will be supplying free half-day training sessions (USD750 value) so participants can get started.
When will the onboarding session be?
A: We will share a kick off onboarding video to help you get started with the hackathon.
Why isn’t my country eligible?
A: Unfortunately due to local regulations and limited resources, some countries are not eligible for this hackathon. However, we will be looking into expanding the hackathon further in the future. For which countries are eligible, please see the eligible country list in our "Details" tab.
Databricks Express Accounts FAQ
How many “Databricks Express Accounts” are distributed?
A: Each eligible team is only allowed ONE test account per team. (not per individual)
What do the participants get after they fill out the request for the “Databricks Express” account?
A: If eligible, participants will get a unique link to sign up for their account. The account will have USD400 for participants to use.
Expect the email with the link to come within 72 hours of applying for the account. Only ONE team member is needed to fill out a request google form.
What services are recommended for the hackathon?
A: AI/BI Dashboard, Genie, Apps, features to process your data. While you can use various AI services, please be mindful of the costs—each trial account has a limit of USD 400.
How can I monitor the cost?
A:You can find your cost information in the system.billing.usage table. This table contains information about billable usage data, and you can access the SKU-specific usage.
I used up all my credits fast, what should I do here?
A: You can include your credit card to pay for services or talk to your sales team to see if it is an eligible project for a top-up.
Do I have to use the Test Drive account? Can I use an existing Databricks Account for this hackathon?
A: Yes, you may use an existing account. We will not supply $400 for regular accounts, though.