Call for Competitions
We strongly encourage submissions with the potential for meaningful societal impact, especially those that leverage AI responsibly. We welcome compelling competitions that attract broad, diverse, and interdisciplinary participation across the ICAIF 2026 Competition Track.
Technological advances in our field can have adverse effects on different communities. We welcome proposals that aim to address such issues, particularly from researchers with direct experience in these areas.
Our focus is on the impact of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in finance. Competitions should challenge participants to achieve the best performance on a machine-learning task relevant to the ICAIF community. The task should center on a specific problem and dataset provided by the competition organizers. A live component, such as a leaderboard, is recommended but not required.
ICAIF 2026 will be an in-person conference featuring a dedicated Competition Track. Participants and organizers will present and discuss the results. The Competition Track is currently planned as a live event with hybrid support lasting 3-4 hours. More details about the format will be shared in the coming months.
Areas of Interest
Areas of interest include, but are not limited to:
- • Blockchain, cryptocurrency, quantum AI & ML systems
- • Forecasting financial scenarios
- • Portfolio construction
- • Risk modeling and management
- • Asset pricing
- • Robustness and uncertainty quantification
- • Validation and calibration of financial models
- • Applications of foundation models in financial trading
- • Graph theory and network analysis
- • Fraud detection for credit cards and mortgages
- • Early detection of firm defaults
- • Explainability, ethics, and fairness of AI & ML systems
Proposal Submission
Competition proposals are limited to 4 pages to keep the review process manageable. Submissions will be considered on a rolling basis, and compelling competitions may be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Submit your competition proposal through the ICAIF 2026 CMT portal using the "Competitions" option in the drop-down menu. Proposals must be submitted as a single PDF file.
The Microsoft CMT service was used for managing the peer-reviewing process for this conference. This service was provided for free by Microsoft and they bore all expenses, including costs for Azure cloud services as well as for software development and support.
Review and Selection Process
Each proposal will be reviewed and scored based on criteria such as:
Task(s)
Impact, originality, and relevance to the ICAIF community. Tasks with positive societal impact are especially encouraged, although other subjects relevant to the ICAIF community are also welcome.
Evaluation Protocol
Feasibility of the chosen task, adequacy of data for training and testing algorithms to solve the proposed task, soundness of the evaluation criteria, and clarity and fairness of competition rules will be evaluated.
Logistics
The competition timeline, strategy for attracting participants, and the experience and diversity of the organizers will be considered. A detailed plan for participant recruitment will be important during the review process.
Important Dates
Anywhere on Earth (AoE)
| Subject | Date |
|---|---|
| Competition proposal submission deadline | August 9, 2026 23:59 AoE |
| Acceptance notification | August 17-20, 2026 |
| Competition track | TBD |
Additional Comments
Competition organizers should provide a timeline that ensures participants have enough time to submit high-quality entries. Organizers who need assistance or suggestions regarding platforms for running the competition can contact the competition chairs for guidance.