World's Top Collegiate Programmers to Compete at IBM-Sponsored ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest in Phuket, Thailand

WACO, Texas, May 3, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The next generation of elite computer software engineers will meet in Phuket, Thailand on May 19 to compete in the 40^th Annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals sponsored by IBM (NYSE: IBM)  and hosted by Prince of Songkla University. This competition will serve to not only bring together the world's top student developers, but will also give them the opportunity to interact with advanced technologies in cloud, cognitive computing and more.

Headquartered at Baylor University and known as the "Battle of the Brains," the world's oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contest serves as a proving ground for the elite level of collegiate programmers, challenging them to solve a series of complex real-world problems in just five hours. Huddled around a single computer, the 128 teams of three students will race against the clock in a grueling battle of logic, strategy and mental endurance.

"Now in its fortieth year, the ACM-ICPC began as a competition among the universities of Texas and has transformed into a worldwide phenomenon," said Dr. Bill Poucher, ICPC Executive Director and Baylor University Professor. "We're thrilled to open doors of opportunity for these talented young students as they put their creativity and technical expertise to the test to tackle real world challenges in a competitive environment. We are excited to see this elite level of talent compete in Phuket with IBM as sponsor and a fantastic university, Prince of Songkla University as host."  

In addition to competing in the World Finals, students will be exposed to the latest technologies from contest sponsor IBM through speakers and interactive, on-site demos of IBM Bluemix, IBM's cloud platform, and IBM Watson, IBM's platform for cognitive business. The combination of Bluemix and Watson, with their extensive API support, allows developers to rapidly build cognitive business solutions that run in secure hybrid cloud environments. Currently on-boarding more than 20,000 developers each week, Bluemix is rapidly gaining momentum as a platform to quickly access and build with the most advanced set of APIs available – including tools and services in cognitive, unstructured data, IoT, cybersecurity, DevOps and more.

The participants will also have the opportunity to meet with current IBM professionals to learn about industry trends and professional opportunities.

"IBM's goal as lead sponsor is to celebrate the world's best computing students, expose them to key technology trends such as cloud and cognitive intelligence, and get them excited about pursuing a career in programming," said Gerald Lane, ACM-ICPC Sponsorship Executive and Director, IBM Open Technologies & IP. "As more organizations across the globe turn to cloud and other advanced technologies to transform how they operate, they will be looking towards talented developers – such as these contestants – to help them build with new cognitive, IoT and analytics technologies on the cloud."

The 128 World Finalists emerged from local and regional ICPC competitions this past fall. Initially, selection took place from a field of more than 300,000 students in computing disciplines worldwide. A record number of students advanced to the regional level, as 40,266 contestants from 2,736 universities in 102 countries on six continents competed at more than 480 sites, all with the goal of earning one of the coveted invitations to Phuket. Of the 128 teams competing in the World Finals, 23 represent universities in the United States.

"Supporting the ICPC aligns with IBM's focus on fueling the next generation of developers," said Parnsiree Amatayakul, Managing Director, IBM Thailand. "We're in an exciting new era of cognitive intelligence, and the skills needed to succeed at the ICPC - creativity, teamwork and innovative thinking – are right on point with what's happening in our industry. We look forward to engaging with this elite talent."

"We congratulate all of the ICPC finalists and are looking forward to hosting this incredible event," said Assoc. Prof. Dr. Chusak Limsakul, Prince of Songkla University President. "We thank ACM-ICPC for choosing Phuket and IBM for their support in the organization of this great and unique competition."

The contest will begin at 9:30 a.m. local time in Phuket on May 19. A live broadcast will air on ICPCLive.com and live contest standings will be available on MyICPC.ICPCNews.com.

Media Contact:
Courtney Coolidge, Tierney Communications
+1 (215) 790-4380
[email protected]

SOURCE ICPC

Related Links

https://icpc.baylor.edu