ICPC 2022: Bringing global programmers in Dhaka

Dhaka hosted the 45th edition of the “International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC)” World Finals, a prestigious international contest for solving computer programming problems for university-level students that started in the 1970s.

It hosted and welcomed over 1,000 foreign guests and 137 teams from eight regions in this year’s ICPC event, which is also considered the Olympics of programming. The country first appeared in the competition in 1998.

The grand ceremony of the contest was held between November 6 and 11 at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB).

The ICPC Foundation, along with the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) of the ICT Division of the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh and the host university, the University of Asia Pacific (UAP), were the principal organisers of the 45th ICPC World Finals in Dhaka.

As the Diamond World Finals sponsor, multinational technology corporation Huawei participated in the event and powered the ICPC Challenge.

“The event is a great opportunity to showcase our capabilities in ICT. “At the same time, it is also an opportunity to establish contact with the current leadership of the future ICT leaders of our country,” State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak said about the mega event.

“We have achieved the success of becoming a digital Bangladesh, and based on that success, we now want to build a sustainable, knowledge-based, and innovative ‘Smart Bangladesh’ by 2041,” he added.

“ICPC is a competition for the universities of the world. Our mission is to uplift every class to build on our strengths for a better world for future generations. And that requires a commitment to excellence,” said ICPC Foundation President Dr William B. Poucher.

Bangladesh has made remarkable strides in digitalisation during its Digital Bangladesh vision for 2021 and is moving towards a knowledge-based Smart Bangladesh by 2041.

With 6.5 lakh IT freelancers working in the global IT industry and $1.4 billion in software and ITES export earnings, the country also produces 10,000 IT graduates each year.

Suggested by experts, Bangladesh is striving to create a competitive environment here to make our youths fit to cope with and compete with peer groups worldwide.

To this end, multiple contests are being held at the national and international level every year, and efforts are underway to initiate coding learning at the school level, aiming to subsequently generate a huge number of programmers and IT professionals.

Bangladesh is the fourth host country of the event in the Asia Region after China, Japan, and Thailand.

About ICPC

The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) is the premiere global programming competition conducted by and for the world’s universities.

ICPC shines the spotlight on the students, coaches, universities, industry, and communities working to advance prospects of prosperity through team-based, algorithmic competitive programming.

For over four decades, the ICPC has grown to be a game-changing global competitive educational program that has raised the aspirations and performance of generations of the world’s problem solvers in the computing sciences and engineering.

With 400,000 alumni, the ICPC community spans the globe, with recent annual participation levels reaching 111 countries, 3,450 universities, and 75,000 team members, coaches, and volunteers.

Competition of the Brains in Dhaka

The Problem Solving Part, the main component of the contest, was scheduled for November 10, where the participants solved the given 12 problems within 5 hours using their skills and talents.

The contest pits teams of three university students against each other. Huddled around a single computer, competitors race against the clock in a competition of logic, strategy, and mental endurance. Teammates collaborate to rank the difficulty of the problems, deduce the requirements, design test beds, and build software systems that solve the problems under the intense scrutiny of expert judges.

ICPC winners in 2022

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) won the Dhaka finals with a total score of 11 problems solved out of 12.

This year, 137 teams participated in the competition, including eight teams from Bangladesh. BUET (Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology), which was honoured as the champion in the Asia-West region in the 44th ICPC World Finals last year, ranked 51st overall in the world.

Peking University from Beijing, China, ranked 2nd with a total score of 10, followed by the University of Tokyo from Tokyo, Japan, ranked 3rd.

The rankings of other Bangladeshi universities in the 45th ICPC are as follows:

Shahjalal University of Science and Technology - 56th, University of Dhaka - 82nd, Jahangirnagar University - 98th, North South University - 107th, American International University - Bangladesh - 113th, University of Asia Pacific - 119th and Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology - 122nd.

Huawei in line with ICPC

Huawei is committed to creating opportunity for the next generation of problem solvers as they explore challenging subject areas that advance science and technology and propel industry to meet the needs of tomorrow.

Huawei shares a common mission with ICPC to provide more opportunities for students.

Huawei sponsors many top contests such as ICPC, IMO, ICHO, IMC, etc. The ICPC contest proposes high-quality world problems and challenges, broadening the horizons of the competition students and identifying and cultivating top talents.

In 2021, Huawei will invest RMB 2.7 billion ($ 375 million) in university cooperation, working with over 300 universities and 900 research institutions worldwide. 

Exchange the knowledge

Huawei’s research and development investment represents 22.4 per cent of the total revenue. As a result, the company has many different business and cutting-edge technology topics that are closely related to the contestants’ study areas, such as mathematics, algorithms, and software.

Huawei will continue providing firm and unswerving support to competition talents and open up our research platforms worldwide in the hope of giving all young talent access to the most challenging problems in the ICT industry, said Vicky Zhang, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Huawei, in her speech at the event’s 45th ICPC World Finals in Dhaka.

A total of 121 teams and 35 coaches have successfully submitted their solutions for this challenge.

These good lives deeply depend on the speed of scientific and technological progress and, in essence, on the intelligence and creativity of talent.

Like the advocacy from Huawei’s Seeds for the Future, it’s our mission to make sure young talent has access to the necessary skillsets and mindsets to succeed in a fast-changing world.

“We want to provide our talented young people with the best STEM opportunities possible, so they can achieve their goals and contribute to the world,” Vicky stated.

Therefore, Huawei’s support for ICPC continues in its commitment to open research platforms that are oriented toward the future of information terminals, computing, and connectivity.

Apart from supporting the World Finals, Huawei persists in hosting training events, sponsoring international tech contests, and providing professional coaching along with other resources to the international contest community.

Only in 2022 Huawei and the ICPC will jointly host 2 new training camps, in Shanghai and Wroclaw, Poland. In addition, we have prepared an online marathon challenge to provide more learning and training opportunities for students.

By sponsoring some of the world’s top contests, Huawei not only proposes high-quality world problems for the industrial challenge but also hopes to broaden the horizons of our students and cultivate top talents locally.