Predict the 2014 Soccer World Champions and Win up to $10,000 from RapidMiner
Predictive Analytics Leader Accurately Predicted Winner in 2010; Invites Data Analysts and Soccer Enthusiasts to Showcase Data Sources and Methodologies to Predict this Year’s Winner
BOSTON – May 15, 2014 – Pioneering predictive analytics leader RapidMiner is offering business analysts and data scientists worldwide the chance to win cash and other prizes for predicting the winners of the 2014 soccer world championships.
In 2010, RapidMiner used sentiment analysis to accurately predict the winner of the final game more than a week before the matches began. The company used its RapidMiner Server solution to monitor sentiment in news texts, blog and forum posts – analyzing more than 1,000 online channels and thousands of posts per minute – and aggregated the results. As a result of its sentiment analysis, RapidMiner correctly identified Spain as the winner of the 2010 championship, which featured a matchup between Spain and the Netherlands that Spain won 1-0.
Now, RapidMiner is inviting all data enthusiasts to use RapidMiner to predict which team will hoist the trophy in Brazil on July 13, 2014.
“Analytics and sports have always been natural partners, and having opinions on who will emerge victorious is one of the best things about sports,” said Ingo Mierswa, RapidMiner founder and CEO. “Fans make predictions all the time. Now we’re offering the chance to use one of the industry-leading predictive analytics platforms to forecast the winner through whatever methods and models they feel give them the best chance to win.”
The RapidMiner Challenge will bestow two $5,000 grand prize cash awards. The first award will be given to the team or individual who correctly identifies the winners of the group round. A second award will be given to the team or individual that correctly predicts the winners of the 2014 world championship before the matches begin. Entrants will use RapidMiner to:
• Submit their predictive models and an explanation of how they set up their predictions
• Predict the eight winners of the group round
• Predict which teams will finish in first, second and third place
Anyone can download and use a free community version or trial version of RapidMiner from the company website.
In addition to the two grand prizes, RapidMiner will award other prizes, including: free RapidMiner Studio Personal editions; invitations to RapidMiner World, taking place August 18-21, 2014 in Boston; T-shirts and more.
Registration for the RapidMiner Challenge will begin immediately and run until midnight EDT June 11, 2014. To be eligible for the $10,000 grand prize, entrants must be 18 years of age. To view the full contest rules, along with more information about how to enter, visit https://rapidminer.com/challenge/. For contest updates, and to share what you would do with $10,000, visit http://www.facebook.com/rapidminer, and on Twitter use the hashtag #RapidMinerChallenge.
RapidMiner is a recognized leader in advanced and predictive analytics. The company was recently positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the Leaders quadrant of the first “Gartner Magic Quadrant for Advanced Analytics Platforms,” published February 19, 2014.1
About RapidMiner
Pioneering predictive analytics leader RapidMiner is redefining how business analysts use all kinds of data, including big data, to predict the future. With an open source heritage, RapidMiner is one of today’s most widely known and used analytics platforms, providing powerful solutions for a wide variety of industries. For more information, visit www.rapidminer.com.
About the Magic Quadrant
Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
1 Gartner “Magic Quadrant for Advanced Analytics Platforms,” by Gareth Herschel, Alexander Linden, and Lisa Kart, February 19, 2014