The Social Intelligence Innovation Challenge 2026
Every year, the Social Intelligence Innovation Challenge brings together practitioners and technology partners to explore a different challenge shaping the future of social intelligence.
As agentic systems begin reshaping how research, insight, and decision-making gets done, this year’s challenge focuses on where these systems can genuinely support social intelligence practice.
Got an idea for an agent, automation or AI-supported approach that could improve the way your team works? Submit your idea and work with Pulsar to help bring it to life.
You do not need technical expertise to build the solution yourself. The winning concept will be developed by Pulsar and revealed at Observe Summit in Paris.
The submission period is now closed.
Why this exists
The way social intelligence work gets done is starting to change.
As teams experiment with agentic systems and AI-supported workflows, new questions are emerging around where automation genuinely helps, where human judgement remains critical, and how the two work together in practice.
The Social Intelligence Innovation Challenge was created to bring practitioners directly into that process.
Each year, the challenge focuses on a different problem shaping the future of social intelligence. Participants submit ideas to support their real work, use cases, or workflows, and the winning concept is developed in partnership with Pulsar.
What we’re looking for
We’re looking for ideas grounded in real practitioner experience.The strongest entries will identify a meaningful problem, explain why it matters, and show how automation or AI could improve the way the work is handled. Ideas can range from small interventions to larger concepts.
This could include:
- Reducing repetitive or manual tasks
- Identifying signals that need human attention
- Improving how narratives, risks, or trends are surfaced over time
- Supporting interpretation, escalation, or decision-making
- Strengthening oversight, validation, and quality control
- Helping teams work more consistently across complex workflows
- Creating more confidence in how insights are prioritised and acted upon
We’re particularly interested in ideas that balance automation with human judgement in thoughtful and practical ways. You do not need to build the solution yourself, just submit your idea, and if you win, Pulsar will build it with you.
The 2026 Challenge: Agentic Workflows
This year’s challenge focuses on how agentic systems can support social intelligence in meaningful and practical ways.
We’re inviting practitioners to propose ideas for agents, automations, or AI-supported approaches that could improve listening, analysis, reporting, narrative tracking, escalation, strategy, quality control, or any recurring challenge you believe could be handled better.
The winning concept will be co-developed with Pulsar and revealed at Observe Summit in Paris.
Meet The Finalists
For finalists and winners
The challenge is designed to encourage real industry collaboration, bringing practitioners, judges, and technology partners together to help shape how social intelligence practice evolves.
Shortlisted finalists
Shortlisted participants will:
- Take part in a live Community Review Session with the judging panel and SI Lab community
- Receive visibility across SI Lab and Observe Summit communications
- Receive a complimentary ticket to Observe Summit, Paris
- Help shape ongoing conversations around the future of social intelligence practice
Winning concept and finalist
The winning concept will:
- Be developed in partnership with Pulsar
- Receive ongoing support and collaboration during the build process
- Receive two complimentary tickets, travel costs, and 3 nights' accommodation for Observe Summit in Paris
- Be revealed live at Observe Summit, with finalists joining the main stage for a fireside discussion about the thinking behind the concept
- Receive early access to the final developed solution, and have 1 month of full access to the agent via Pulsar
Judges
Our judges represented a mix of perspectives across social intelligence, research, strategy, and technology. They’ll be looking for ideas grounded in real practice, with the potential to improve how social intelligence work is interpreted, managed, and acted upon.
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