2nd Edition of CBSA-Wisers Analytics Challenge @HKUST Concluded with Great Success

March 30, 2023 – Organized by the Center for Business and Social Analytics (CBSA) of HKUST Business School in partnership with Wisers Information Limited, the second Analytics Challenge @HKUST (the Challenge) has concluded with great success.    

▲ (Front row from left) Mr. Tasos ZAVITSANAKIS, Head of Sustainable Finance Office, Greater China, UBS; Prof. Carlos FERNANDEZ-LORIA, Assistant Professor of Department of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management; Prof. Veronique LAFON-VINAIS, Associate Professor of Business Education; Prof. HUI Kai-Lung, Director, Center for Business and Social Analytics; Ms. Denise CHE, Chief Executive Officer, Wisers Information Limited; Prof. Albert IP, Adjunct Professor and Senior Advisor to the Dean of Business and Management; Dr. Chao HE, Founder, AIVI Financial Technologies; Mr. Victor YIM, Head of FinTech, Cyberport; and Mr. Wang CHUN, Director of AI, Wisers Information Limited

Sixty teams comprising more than 200 participants joined the Challenge this year. These teams were not only asked to mine a dataset that provides the text of nearly 1 million pieces of news articles and social media posts and comments with keywords related to climate risk and sustainability locally, but also had to frame a problem, develop a data methodology, and craft proposals on driving the innovation and development of sustainable and green finance in Hong Kong.    

In November and December last year, a webinar series featuring a wide range of senior data and technology professionals was held to provide the contestants with critical context and insights into the challenges facing Hong Kong’s sustainable and green finance industry. In addition, they were granted complimentary access to the Certificate ESG Foundation Course sponsored by the Matters Academy. In mid-February, five finalist teams participated in a 24-hour ‘datathon’ and presented their proposals to a panel of judges. The top three teams received prize awards of HK$15,000, HK$10,000, and HK$5,000 respectively.    

This year’s Challenge was made possible by the generous support from Cyberport, the Center for Green and Sustainable Finance of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, UBS, HKUST’s Fintech and Green Finance Projects, MSc in Business Analytics program, and the Division of Environment and Sustainability.    

▲ During the 24-hour datathon, the teams worked tirelessly to analyze data and identify patterns, laser-focused on the challenge at hand in full collaboration. 

Professor Kai-Lung Hui, Director of CBSA, remarked, “The increasing use of data along with the rise of AI technologies such as ChatGPT has transformed the way we approach problems and make decisions. As the organizer of this student competition, we’re excited to be at the forefront of this trend and look forward to seeing the bright minds among our students leverage data to address complex and real-world challenges.”

For media enquiries, please contact:

HKUST Business School 

Danny Lee 

Tel: (852) 3469 2090 

Email: dannyyklee@ust.hk