Dhaka is all set to host the 45th edition of the ‘International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC)’, a prestigious international contest for solving computer programming problems for university-level students.
"Most of the preparatory works have been done while the rest is underway to host the grand event and to greet over 1,000 foreign guests from almost 70 countries", organisers said at a press conference Sunday at the BCC Auditorium of ICT Tower in the capital's Agargaon area.
State Minister for ICT Division Zunaid Ahmed Palak addressed the press briefing along with ICPC Foundation President and ICPC Executive Director Dr William B Poucher, Senior Secretary of ICT Division NM Zeaul Alam, Vice-Chancellor of UAP Prof Dr Qumrul Ahsan and the ICPC Director of World Finals Contests Dr Michael J Donahoo.
The opening ceremony of the contest will be held on November 8 at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB). Problem Solving Part, the main component of the contest, is scheduled for November 10 where the participants will solve the given problems within 6 hours using their skills and talent.
Bangladesh is hosting the event as the 4rth country in Asia after China, Japan and Thailand, which started in 1970 and is organised almost every year, especially for the young generation.
This year, around 137 teams from 70 countries are participating in the competition including eight teams from Bangladesh. The country first appeared in the competition in 1998.
ICPC Foundation along with 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) are the principal organisers of the 45th ICPC World Finals Dhaka.
The Vice President of Corporate Communications of Huawei Vicky Zhang, the Vice President of Research and Education of JetBrains Andrei Ivanov and the Executive Director of BCC Ranajit Kumar were also present at the press conference.
"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 in his address.
Citing statistics, Palak said Bangladesh is the second largest country in the list of online sources of workers.
"We have achieved the success of becoming Digital Bangladesh and based on that success, we now want to build a sustainable, knowledge-based and innovative 'Smart Bangladesh' by 2041", he added.
"In 13 years, we have improved a lot in the ICT sector. 13 years ago, we had only 5 million internet users which are now 130 million. 13 years ago, there was no ICT industry, exports in the technology sector were only 26 million dollars. Now, it comes to 1.4 billion dollars every year from software, hardware and service sectors," said Palak.
"ICPC is a competition for the universities of the world. Our mission is to uplift every class to build on our strengths of a better world for future generations. And that requires a commitment to excellence," ICPC Foundation President Dr William B Poucher said.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) was honoured as the champion in the Asia West region in the 44th ICPC World Finals last year.
Apart from 200 ICPC Regional Contest Directors, more than 1,000 foreign guests, including officials are already arriving in Bangladesh for the occasion. ICPC Regional Directors will participate in different symposiums and seminars.
The teams taking part from Bangladesh are Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), University of Dhaka, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET), North South University (NSU), American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB), Jahangirnagar University and University of Asia Pacific (UAP).
