International Olympiad in Informatics Kicks Off in Szeged

This Tuesday sees the start of the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) in the southeastern Hungarian city of Szeged, with around a thousand participants from ninety countries around the world, the organizers told MTI.

The International Olympiad in Informatics has been held annually since 1989 for secondary school students from the participating countries. The IOI is one of the major international science Olympiads and one of the world's most prestigious IT competitions. Four students per country can qualify for the individual competition in qualifying competitions, except for the organizing country, which can send eight competitors each year. Hungary has hosted the competition once before, in 1996 in Veszprém.

The venue for this year's student olympiad is the Pick Arena in Szeged, where 360 competitors will compete over two days in tasks such as problem analysis, designing algorithms and data structures, and programming and testing.

Hungarian competitors have had great success at the Student Olympics over the past decades, winning 13 gold, 37 silver and 47 bronze medals. Among the gold medalists, Hungary was the absolute winner in 1992. So far, all Hungarian athletes have won medals in eleven Olympics.

Hungary's hosting of the competition is also a tribute to the 120th anniversary of the birth of János Neumann.

The International Olympiad in Informatics, organized by the Neumann Technology Platform, the University of Szeged and TechEd Hungary Plc. with the support of the Ministry of Economic Development, will be accompanied by a series of special professional and public events. These will allow a wider audience to engage with the themes of talent management, education and digital competences.