International Olympiad in Informatics 2023 will be held in Szeged

Prof. Benjamin Burton, President of IOI, at the press conference at Pick Arena Szeged, on Feb. 21, 2023. Photo: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify

The 35th International Olympiad in Informatics - IOI 2023 - will be held in Szeged between August 28 and September 4.

IOI is one of the five international science Olympiads, and one of the most prestigious competitive programming events in the world. Invited countries can delegate 4 students, and the organizing country can take part with 8 students. This year, approximately 400 students will take part in the competition in Szeged's Pick Arena.

A 4-day preparatory event of IOI 2023, called Winter Meeting, started in Szeged this week for all organizing parties to discuss the details of the implementation of IOI 2023, along with the organizational tasks. On this occasion, members of the international organizing committee could get to know the location of the competition, the technical details, the accompanying cultural programs planned, as well as the accommodation provided for the participants.

This will be the second time that Hungary hosts the International Olympiad in Informatics, which is an extremely prestigious event and is expected to have around 1000 participants from nearly 100 countries - Szabolcs Szolnoki, Deputy State Secretary for Technology told reporters yesterday during a press event.

The organizing committee, together with the University of Szeged will provide 24-hour programs for the participants during the 8-day-long event. The Deputy State Secretary emphasized that their aim with the competition is also to draw attention to IT education and popularize this career path in Hungary since IT is becoming a shortage profession due to digitization.

László Jobbágy, head of the Hungarian organizing committee, explained that the IOI is returning to Europe after 11 years of competitions held overseas and in Asian locations. Mr. Jobbágy also spoke about the IOI 2023 being part of the Neumann 120, a memorial year full of events and programs, in celebration of the 120th birth anniversary of the Hungarian-born mathematician, John von Neumann.

Home of Szeged’s Handball team, and the venue of IOI 2023, the Pick Arena. Photo: Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify

Dr. László Nyúl, the chairman of the Hungarian technical committee of the IOI, explained that competing students will write programs and develop algorithms during the competition. Students will have five hours to solve three tasks, which they will have to accomplish on two different days. He added that the organizers prepare to host all 400 competitors in person, and this can be made at the Pick Arena. As for the technical part, they will need more than 400 computers and the necessary server infrastructure, while approx. 1 km of high-current cable and approx. 7 km of low-current network cable will be laid. Mr. Nyúl added that they will have only one weekend to prepare the Pick Arena to host IOI 2023.

Prof. Benjamin Burton, President of IOI, added that the International Olympiad in Informatics is not like most academic competitions. It's 10 hours of exams, but not on paper - the exams are on the machine. The tasks are computer programming, but what makes it hard is not programming, rather than deciding what to program the computer to do in order to solve the problem given.

"There is so much work behind the scenes to make the networking, the software, the solutions, the technical infrastructure to work” - said Prof. Burton. He also explained that the greatest priority when choosing the host of the next IOI is the technical and scientific skill of the team behind the event and that the international committee is very confident that Prof. Nyúl and the other organizers will prepare an excellent, well-run, and technically proficient contest.

IOI 2023 is organized by the Neumann János Nonprofit Ltd., a background institution of the Ministry for Economic Development, and the University of Szeged.

For more info, visit the IOI 2023 website.