The 26th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is under way in Taipei.
This is the first time that Taiwan has played host to the computer programming competition for secondary school students since it was first held in 1989. A total of 554 students and observers from 82 countries are participating in the event.
Under IOI rules, contestants are given five hours to solve three problems. Each participant is required to write a computer program without help from others.
At the opening ceremony Vice President We Den-yih said he hoped the event would help young people in Taiwan develop an interest in creativity and information technology.
“Several major issues facing the global community, including environmental protection, bioinformatics, green technology and medical development, require more skilled and creative IT workers to offer solutions. Hosting the event will not only help Taiwan to attract more young people’s interest to this field, it will also promote innovation and improve their global outlook,” said Wu.
The programming competition begins on Tuesday and will last through July 17th.