Predictive analytics firm RapidMiner has given data scientists and business analysts the chance to win up to $10,000 if they correctly predict the 2014 World Cup soccer champion.
The company is asking entrants to the competition to use its RapidMinder Server to submit predictive models and an explanation of how they set up their predictions.
Ingo Mierswa, RapidMiner founder and CEO, said: "Analytics and sports have always been natural partners, and having opinions on who will emerge victorious is one of the best things about sports.
"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 company, which correctly predicted that Spain would win the 2010 championship, will offer two $5,000 cash awards.
The first prize will be given to the team or individual who correctly identifies the winners of the group stage, while the second will be given to the team who predicts the World Cup champion.
Registration for the RapidMiner Challenge will be open until June 11, 2014, and users can download and use a free community version or trial version of RapidMiner from the company website.
