Data Science Association

What Data Science Association does

The Data Science Association (DSA) is a non-profit professional association founded in 2017 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., registered with the U.S. IRS as a 501(c)(6) entity (EIN 82-3082527). It operates as the self-described largest professional association serving the data science, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing ecosystem globally, with representation in 14+ international cities and a website localized into 19 languages. The organization delivers its offering through five revenue streams: individual memberships at $50 per year, three-tiered corporate partnerships (Bronze $12K, Silver $24K, Gold $48K annually), conference registration fees spanning global events across five continents, professional certifications, and education courses.

DSA's core product portfolio includes annual professional membership, global conferences, professional certifications (including a specialized DSA AI Certification), peer-reviewed publication through the International Journal of Data Science (IJDS, via Inderscience), education modules, a member job board, local subchapters, and newer B2B service lines including AI Risk Assessment, Lobbying, and Public Relations services. The organization also maintains a Code of Professional Conduct with nine rules and a dispute resolution mechanism, positioning itself as a standards-setting body for the data profession.

The underlying technology is non-proprietary in nature — DSA does not build software products but operates a self-serve membership registration platform, a multilingual content website, and event management infrastructure. Its competitive positioning rests on community scale, global conference distribution, and the credibility of its certification and standards framework rather than on a technical moat. The organization targets a horizontal segmentation of data professionals across data science, AI, quantum computing, finance, healthcare, government, insurance, venture capital, and academia, with individual members as the primary segment and corporate partnerships as the enterprise revenue layer.

Name

Data Science Association

Legal name

Data Science Association

Website

https://datascienceassn.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Data Science Association is a non-profit professional association offering memberships, certifications, global conferences, and education programs for data science, AI, and quantum computing professionals across 14+ countries and 19-language markets.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

NAICS

Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Data Science & Analytics (Data Literacy, SQL, Visualization) (EDAMACAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Advanced Analytics & Data Science Services (BPAEAHAE)

Keywords

• Professional certification services
• Professional association membership
• Data science conferences
• Professional education courses
• AI risk assessment services

Headquarters

HQ city

Denver

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Membership Dues: Annual membership dues of $50 USD per member. Membership provides access to career resources, job board, conferences, education courses, certifications, and networking opportunities. As a non-profit organization, membership dues are tax-deductible.
2. Corporate Partnership Programs: Three-tiered partnership program offering Bronze ($12,000/year), Silver ($24,000/year), and Gold ($48,000/year) levels. Partners receive benefits including talent recruitment access, marketing visibility at conferences, discounts on DSA services, and participation in committees and working groups.
3. Conference Registration Fees: Revenue from hosting global conferences in various locations worldwide. Conferences cover topics in data science, AI, quantum computing, and related fields. Events are tax-deductible as professional educational events in most jurisdictions.
4. Professional Certifications: Fees for professional certification programs in data science and AI. Certifications are recognized globally and valued by employers.
5. Education Courses and Modules: Fees for professional education courses and modules in data science, designed by industry practitioners. Courses focus on practical application bridging academic theory and real-world challenges.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Data Science Association is a non-profit professional association that sells individual annual memberships ($50 USD) and delivers member benefits including professional certifications, education courses, globally distributed conferences, a peer-reviewed journal (International Journal of Data Science), AI-specific certification, AI risk assessment services, lobbying, and public relations services. It also operates a tiered corporate partnership program (Bronze/Silver/Gold) for organizations seeking to access the data science talent community.

Product overview

The Data Science Association is a non-profit professional association (IRS EIN 82-3082527) offering a portfolio of membership-based services rather than a unified technology product. The core offerings include Professional Membership (annual $50 dues), global DSA Conferences across multiple continents, Professional Certifications, Education Courses/Modules, the International Journal of Data Science, DSA AI Certification, DSA AI Risk Assessment Services, DSA Lobbying Services, DSA Public Relations Services, a member Job Board, DSA Subchapters, and Partnership Programs at Bronze/Silver/Gold tiers. These services provide career advancement, networking, education, certifications, and advocacy for data science, AI, and quantum computing professionals worldwide.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• International Journal of Data Science (IJDS): Peer-reviewed journal publishing academic research and applied data science practitioner papers on big data, published through Inderscience.
• DSA AI Certification
• DSA AI Risk Assessment Services
• Quantum Leap Alliance

Segments9 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Venue PartnersminorOthersOrganizations that partner with DSA to host conferences and events at their venues. These partners provide physical locations for DSA's global conference series spanning 5 continents.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Emerging players

• DeepLearning.AI: DeepLearning.AI is an AI education company founded by Andrew Ng, offering courses, specializations, and the Deep Learning Specialization on Coursera. It overlaps with DSA's AI certification and education offerings, with strong brand recognition in the AI community.
• Kaggle: Kaggle (owned by Google) is a data science community and competition platform with millions of users. It serves a similar audience to DSA (data scientists, ML practitioners) but focuses on competitions, datasets, and free learning content rather than certifications and professional membership.

Direct peers

• Association for Computing Machinery (ACM): ACM is the world's largest professional association for computing, with ~100K members across 190+ countries. Like DSA, ACM provides certifications, conferences, publications, and special interest groups covering data science, AI, and emerging computing areas. It is the most direct comparable as a global computing professional membership organization.
• American Statistical Association (ASA): ASA is the principal professional association for statisticians in the US with global reach, offering conferences (Joint Statistical Meetings), publications (JASA), and professional credentials. It overlaps with DSA's data science and analytics professionalization mission, particularly around statistical and data analysis credentials.
• IEEE Computer Society: IEEE Computer Society is a major computing professional organization with hundreds of thousands of members globally, offering conferences, publications, certifications, and standards activities. It directly competes with DSA in the data science, AI, and computing professionalization space with significantly greater financial resources and brand recognition.
• INFORMS: INFORMS is the leading international association for operations research and analytics professionals, with 12,500+ members. It offers certifications (CAP, CP), conferences, and publications that compete with DSA in the data analytics and decision sciences professionalization market.
• International Association for Statistical Computing (IASC): IASC is a section of the International Statistical Institute focused on statistical computing, with global membership. It overlaps with DSA in providing conferences, publications, and professional networks for statisticians and data professionals.
• Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI): AAAI is a non-profit scientific society devoted to advancing AI research and practice, with thousands of members worldwide. It directly overlaps with DSA's AI professionalization mission through conferences, publications, and member services focused on AI researchers and practitioners.

Broad incumbents

• DataCamp: DataCamp is a commercial online education platform focused on data science and AI, with millions of learners globally. It competes with DSA's education and certification offerings with a more capital-rich, technology-driven model that offers interactive courses, certifications, and career tracks.
• Coursera: Coursera is a large-scale online education platform offering data science and AI courses, specializations, and professional certificates from universities and companies. It competes with DSA's education and certification business with much larger scale and content library, though without the membership-based community model.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Data Science Association