ACM SIGMOD KDDCup is always a big challenge hence it is the biggest data mining competition in the world. Last 5 years 200+ research teams had sumbitted results from 30+ countries. These year, competitors can help students to improve their skills by leading them through e-learning material. While the problem is new in KDDCup series it seems that collaborative filtering still rules. For more details, see the official page.
U1 Research always pays special attention to the ACM KDDCup series. Members of U1 Research first have participated at KDDCups in 2005, and they were awarded runner-up. Later on, we also attended the challenge in 2006 (we had got winner and a runner-up award), and in 2008 (6th prize award – the best European team). Our company founders formed the successful 2008 team. In 2009, we started together a new company so we had no time for the competition. It seems something is not changing… next time, maybe.