IEU Sustainability Datathon
8th Edition: March - April 2026
The IEU Sustainability Datathon is a challenge in which participants must solve a sustainability problem with the use of predictive modelling. The competition provides the practical application of Business Analytics, Data Science or Tech to solve a sustainability challenge within a real company.​​
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Who can participate?
It is open to ANY student from IE University!
There will be two separate challenges, in collaboration with Aqualia and Iberdrola.
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IBERDROLA CHALLENGE
Students enrolled in the following programs will participate in this challenge:​
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MBDS
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MCSBT
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MBDS PT
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BCSAI
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BBABCSAI
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BDBA
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BBADBA
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PPLEDBA
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PLEDBA
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BAM
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BIEBAM
AQUALIA CHALLENGE ​
Students from all other Master's and Bachelor's programs will participate in the Aqualia challenge.
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You can find more information about each challenge in the partners section
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Why should you participate?
​Get introduced and/or continue learning about data
Gain experience and boost your CV
Network with professionals and participants
Learn from our top speakers and mentors
Join our community to build your best professional self
Win cash prizes €€€
ABOUT THE DATATHON
The IEU Sustainability Dathaton is an 8-week competition in which participants must solve a sustainability problem with the use of predictive modelling. Partners can vary from edition to edition.
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The competition provides the practical application of Business Analytics, Data Science, Coding and other Business and Tech skills to solve a sustainability challenge within a real company.
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Participants have access to exclusive resources, mentoring sessions and webinars to help them build the best possible solution to the problem proposed.
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Finalists have the chance to present their project to the partners at the Closing Ceremony.
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The competition is available to the entire university, which has over 10,000 students representing more than 70 nationalities. It is also now available to partner universities and high schools with whom IE has exchange program agreements with.
OUR PARTNER:
Iberdrola España is the leading European electric utility without state ownership by market capitalisation and a world leader in renewable energy. Its position is built on its corporate purposes and values, with a corporate culture of integrity and transparency and with ethics always present in our business model and in our decision-making chain.
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The Iberdrola Group stands out for its track record of growth and its anticipation of society’s energy needs over its more than 125 years.
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The Group is committed to an energy transition based on decarbonisation and the electrification of the energy industry and the economy.
CHALLENGE
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The Iberdrola “Smart Electric Mobility” challenge focuses on designing an optimized public EV charging network to support the growth of electric vehicles along interurban transport routes outside major urban centers
Participants must determine the minimum number of charging points required while identifying grid congestion areas that may constrain infrastructure deployment
Using real public datasets on road networks, existing charging stations, EV adoption forecasts, and grid capacity, teams are expected to develop a data-driven methodology and propose scalable reinforcement strategies to help Iberdrola their Smart Electric Mobility infrastructure
OUR PARTNER:
Aqualia is the water management company owned by the citizen services group FCC (51%) and by the Australian ethical fund IFM Investors (49%). The company is Europe's fourth largest water management company and the world's ninth largest in terms of population served according to the latest Global Water Intelligence ranking (December 2024).
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It currently serves around 44.8 million users and operates in 18 countries worldwide: Algeria, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Georgia, Italy, Mexico, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and the United States.
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The company is a benchmark in the sector and stands at the vanguard as a specialised, transparent and innovative entity.
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CHALLENGE
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The Aqualia challenge centers on supporting Aqualia in strengthening its double materiality assessment
Participants will act as an ESG consulting team, analyzing Aqualia´s Sustainability reports to indetify key sustainability impacts, risks, and opportunities relevant to Aqualia’s business model.
The final product is a double materiality matrix integrating three newly selected material topics which the team will recommend Aqualia to expand their latest double materiality report.
Teams will have to explain their findings in an executive report and finalists will present them during the Closing Ceremony.
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DATATHON TIMELINE
REGISTRATION OPENS
REGISTRATION CLOSES - Thursday, February 26th
OPENING CEREMONY - Monday, March 2nd at 17:30
WORKSHOPS & MENTORING SESSIONS
Exploratory Data Analysis Workshop
Storytelling Through Data Workshop
FINAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE
CLOSING EVENT, ANNOUNCEMENT OF FINALISTS, PRESENTATIONS AND AWARDS - Wednesday April 29th
PARTICIPATION
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To participate, you must submit a team. Teams can be from 5-6 people.​
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Attendance to the opening and closing ceremony is mandatory if you would like to participate in the competition.​
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Participants will have access to exclusive resources, mentoring sessions and webinars to help you build the best possible solution to the problem proposed.​
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All teams must submit their solution before the deadline.
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Finalists will have the chance to present their project to our sponsors at the Closing Event.​
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After the event, key findings will be published in a visioning report and shared with experts and policymakers.
EXCLUSIVE RESOURCES
Participants have access to mentoring sessions and webinars with industry experts to help build the best possible solution to the problem proposed.
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These exclusive resources include:
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Exploratory Data Analysis Workshop to help students kickstart their projects.
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Storytelling Through Data Workshop to help students condense their findings into a coherent storyline backed with data.
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Mentorship sessions to receive feedback and guidance throughout the competition.
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All training events will be held fully online!
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PRIZES & AWARDS
1st Place: €3.000
2nd Place: €2.000
3rd Place: €1.000
PREVIOUS EDITIONS
1st Edition (2022) Students pitched sustainable solutions to effectively reduce fuel consumption for Ryanair.
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2nd Edition (2023) Students presented sustainable solutions for a problem of optimization of gas pipes proposed by o9 Solutions and NTT DATA as an industry challenge.
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3rd Edition (2023) Students pitched sustainable solutions for a water supply challenge presented by Acciona Agua using AI and machine learning.
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4th Edition (2024) In partnership with Ryanair, students had to present feasible ways of reducing waste and optimizing resource efficiency within the airline industry.
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5th Edition (2024) In partnership with EDP. Students are required to produce a half-hourly forecast consisting of 48 values for October 1st, 2024, predicting key metrics related to the electricity market in the UK.
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6th Edition (February 2025) In partnership with Infosys and Repsol. Students are required to design an optimization for the energy management of an industrial facility from Repsol with a solar installation and no grid injection.
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7th Edition (October 2025) In partnership with IATA, students explored alternative ways to measure COâ‚‚ emissions, modeled the impact of Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF), and created visual tools to communicate complex environmental data.
LEARN MORE
Read about the Datathon and sustainability at IE University:
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Read about previous editions of the IEU Sustainability Datathon:
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Sci-Tech Students Find Innovative Solutions for IE Sustainability Datathon Partner Ryanair​
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Students Develop Solutions for IE Sustainability Datathon Partners NTT DATA and o9 Solutions​
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Sci-Tech Students Develop Solutions for IE Sustainability Datathon Partner Acciona​
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Sustainability Datatathon 2024 (Data meets Sustainability - Fourth Edition)