MSc in Business Analytics & AI Hackathon 2026

ESCP students solve challenges from leading companies in the annual hackathon

From 9-13 March, students in the MSc in Business Analytics & AI programme worked on five company challenges before presenting their solutions to a jury of professors and corporate partners.

The MSc in Business Analytics & AI Hackathon 2026 brought together students, professors and partner companies for a week of hands-on problem-solving centred on real business challenges. This year’s edition was organised in partnership with five partner companies: Catalina Marketing France, Celonis, Criteo, Ekimetrics and Schneider Electric.

Over the course of a few days, students tackled demanding briefs, worked with large datasets and transformed technical findings into strategic recommendations. Just as importantly, they did so in an environment that encouraged teamwork, adaptability and bold thinking.

Rising to the challenge

Working under tight deadlines, participants explored topics ranging from marketing performance to carbon footprint modelling. Together, these challenges gave students the opportunity to apply their skills to questions spanning marketing, operations, automation and sustainability.

The result was a week marked by creativity, resilience and strong analytical thinking. At the end of the week, several teams were recognised for the quality of their work, the relevance of their recommendations and the strength of their final presentations.

Students hard at work during this year’s challenge.

Celebrating this year’s winners

Catalina Marketing France
Improving order management processes and delivery performance

Group 5: Mya Mekouar, Aurélien Saffar, Lamiae El Omari Alaoui, Yuhua Xu

Group 17: Nour Gharbi, Tanya Hochet, Rutuja Dusane, Jack Purcaro

Celonis
Improving order management processes and delivery performance

Group 3: Anna Snodgrass, Diarra Samb, Palak Sharma, Peiyao Li

Criteo
Product information extraction from images

Group 16: Jacopo Ippolito, Pier Giorgio Scalia, Karim Karaki, Victor Bomberna

Ekimetrics
Marketing Mix Modelling: data science in the real world

Group 18: Roberta Ferrero, Lorenza Artusi, Pietro De Cesare, Ludovico Zanotti

Schneider Electric
Deep dive into Industrial Automation BU carbon footprint historical data and 2030 trajectory

Group 10: Elmeri Pilkama, Vishwajeet Parmar, Yoann Marques, Myriam Goupy

Group 20: Andrew Chi, Ken George, Joel George Pramod, Yutong Yang

Special awards

Two additional prizes were awarded during the final day. The Best Pitch of the Day went to Group 13: Flore Perrette, Margaux Dedenis, Liming Zhuang, Emiliano Bertozzi. And the audience favourite, chosen by the students, was Group 18.

Jury Members

Faculty: Prof. Lynn Farah, Prof. Sandrine Macé, Prof. Mostafa Rezaei, Prof. Alara Tascioglou, Prof. Yacine Rekik (invited guest)

Catalina: Johan Sportes, Lucie Le Roy

Criteo: Jeremie Mary, Mickaël Le Tri

Celonis: Luna Jospeph, Jonathan Abend, Victor Jean Lintermans, Pierre-Victor Chaumier

Ekimetrics: Sara Mourtada, Hannah Revcolevischi, Elisa Roussel, Jenny Raharimanana

Schneider Electric: Nicolas Ortiou, Maria BETANCOURT, Paul Henry FALLOURD, Luc BOURLAND, Mireille Ayrault

Voices from the hackathon

"Somewhere between 90 million rows of data, a saturated hard drive, and very little sleep, our best ideas slowly came to life.
In just a few days, we went from raw datasets to a complete and complex solution, which is probably the most intense and rewarding way to learn. Seeing our project recognised as the winning solution for the Catalina challenge made the whole experience even more meaningful .”

Group 5
Mya Mekouar, Aurélien Saffar, Lamiae El Omari Alaoui, Yuhua Xu

"Thank you all for this amazing hackathon. Honestly, the level of ideas, creativity and energy you brought was impressive. Some of the concepts you proposed were genuinely strong and very relevant to real business challenges.”

Johan Sportes
Catalina Marketing France

"I want to express my gratitude for having me participate in this hackathon. I was not expecting such results in such a short time period. The four groups have been excellent. I also want to highlight the students’ commitment all week.”

Nicolas Ortiou
Schneider Electric

A week of challenge, collaboration and impact

The hackathon reflects the practical dimension of the programme. Beyond technical analysis, students were required to prioritise, collaborate and communicate clearly. That combination of rigour and real-world relevance is what makes the week a key moment in the academic year.

Congratulations to all participating students, and thank you to the partner companies, jury members, professors and organisers who made the 2026 edition possible.

Relevant link

Learn more about the programme

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