For the second year in a row, Moscow State University secures ICPC World Champion Title. The 2020 edition will be held in Russia
Competing with ten teams, Russia won the 2019 Finals of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), hosted by the University of Porto, Portugal. The team from the Moscow State University, winner of last year’s edition, made it to the top-3, again, earning the Cup and the Gold Medal of what is regarded as the world’s biggest university programming competition. After winning the title, Moscow was chosen to host next year’s edition of the ICPC’s world finals, which will take place between June 21 and June 26, 2020. This is the first time the event will be held the capital, after two past editions in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.
The team from the Moscow State University was the best among 135 groups, from 47 different countries, and also the winner of the Northern Eurasia region. The winning group was the first to solve two of the challenges, and the only one solving 10 out of 11 problems. In 43 editions, the Moscow State University was the first education institution winning the competition two years in a row.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (winner of the Northern American region), the University of Tokyo (winner of the Asia-Pacific region) and the University of Warsaw (the best European Team) also won gold medals.
The National Taiwan University (Taiwan), the University of Wroclaw (Poland), the Seoul National University (South Korea) and the North Korean KimChaek University of Technology (winner of the Eastern Asia region) won silver medals. And the bronze medals were awarded to the Sharif University of Technology (Iran) (winners of the Western Asia region), the Moscow Institute of Physics & Technology (Russia), the National Research University Higher School of Economics (Russia) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (Hong Kong).
For five consecutive hours, the contestants were challenged to solve 11 everyday problems – with subjects ranging from glazed tiles shops, to the construction of bridges or the organization of traffic signs – using C++ or Java programming languages and testing their logic and “algorithmic creativity” skills. The competition, which made its appearance in Portugal for the first time this year, brought together more than 400 students that are considered to be the best and brightest programming talents of the world.
Syria and Argentina: regional winners in the ICPC
The Syrian Virtual University was considered the best team in the Africa and Middle East regional group, reaching the 21st position in the global ranking. Argentina was the big winner of the Latin American region, represented by the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. With 17 teams each, China and the USA were the countries competing with more students, followed by Russia – winner of this year’s edition as well as the later ones – with ten teams. Brazil, Syria, Egypt and India were also strongly represented in the competition.
The ICPC World Finals were held in Porto, Portugal, between March 31 and April 5, 2019. The event was attended by the world’s best university students, from 45 different countries, in the fields of computer programming, engineering and mathematics. The ICPC has been attracting increasing attention from big technology brands, while also providing students with a unique opportunity to showcase their talent to companies that seize this opportunity to recruit “the brightest minds”. The 2020 World Finals will be held in Moscow, Russia, from June 21 to June 26.
