← All challenge spaces

Software development Challenge '26

Organization: Radboud University Subject: Software Engineering City: Nijmegen

Summary

Third-year AI students from Radboud University form Agile/Scrum teams to design and build a substantial, real-world software system for your organisation over one semester.

Description

In this challenge, third-year Bachelor Artificial Intelligence students from Radboud University work in teams on a real-world software project for your organisation. Over the course of a semester, they design and build a substantial software system using modern Agile/Scrum practices, and deliver a working product plus documentation.

Key features of the challenge

Students per team: 7-8 students.

No. of hours spent per team: 900 in total (100-120 hours per student)

Course: Modern Software Development Techniques (MSDT)

Program: BSc Artificial Intelligence

Duration: ± 5 months, February 2 - July 3

Supervision: Student teams will be assigned internal supervisors at the university to monitor their progress. The details and content of the project are mainly under the supervision of supervisors in the company.

Deliverables: A working software system + System, user, and software-level documentation

Company time investment: 10-16 hours (bi-weekly sprint review meetings + final feedback)

Matching fee: €850,- (ex tax, charged by Master Challenge (NOT the university)).

Challenge Examples

Student teams can work on a wide variety of software projects, as long as there is a substantial software component and a clear goal. Examples of suitable projects:

Web application or internal tool

Build a web-based tool (e.g. in Java, Python or JavaScript) that supports an internal process such as planning, reporting, or workflow management.

Data management & dashboarding platform

Develop a backend and frontend to store, query, and visualise data (e.g. customer, sensor, or research data) for your organisation.

Simulation or decision-support tool

Implement a configurable simulator or rule-based tool that helps employees explore scenarios and support decisions.

Serious game or interactive application

Create a prototype in Unity or similar to support training, education, or awareness around a topic relevant to your organisation.

Integration tool or middleware

Build software that connects different systems or APIs in your organisation and automates repetitive tasks.

As long as the project is technically challenging, has a clear user or business value, and can be executed with the available data/hardware, it will likely be a good fit.

Questions? Want to discuss your challenge before submitting one? Schedule a call here.

Company requirement

Any company (startup/scale-up/corporate/incubator/NGO) with at least two founders/employees working full-time in the company.

In business for at least 6 months.

Costs

To help facilitate this challenge a matching fee of €850,- (ex tax) per team applies (charged by Master Challenge and NOT the university).

❗️You will only be charged when matched to a team.

How to apply

You can submit the challenge directly through the website. Provide a title that summarises the challenge. Subsequently, briefly elaborate on your challenge. See link for a template you could use: https://link.masterchallenge.me/challenge-template or use the challenge generator: https://masterchallenge.me/challenge-generator

🗓 Planning

January 23: Deadline to submit a challenge

January 23 (or sooner): Receiving a message if your challenge is approved by the Course Coordinator

February 2-5: Matching phase

January 31: Student teams rank the challenges

February 4: You rank the teams that want to work on your challenge(s)

February 5: Our matching algorithm will create perfect matches

February 9-13: Kick-off meeting with your team (hand over data to the team)

February 16 - June 4: Bi-weekly meetings with the team

June 22 - 26: Final presentation and project hand-in (offline/online)

Information for students

Welcome to MSDT challenge space!

This space will be used to match teams and projects. This will happen next:

Once you have formed a team, get together (offline or online) with your team to discuss which challenges (top 5) you want to work on and why. Write a short motivation for why you would like to work on each of those projects and submit this selection. The deadline for this is January 31. Please note that only one team member has to submit the challenge ranking.

After that, the clients will also rank which teams they think would be the most suitable for their project (the deadline for this is February 4).

Finally, the master challenge platform will generate and share the team-challenge matches after February 5.

Once you're matched to a challenge, schedule a kick-off meeting with the company representative on February 9-13 (you can use this template; the client proxy should be responsible for the communication with the client). Make sure to prepare for this meeting (e.g., reading about the company and extra details about the project, drafting an agenda for your meeting, formulating questions, etc.).

Good luck!

Key details

Open on Master Challenge