Baku to host Informatics Olympiad in 2019

/By AzerNews/

By Nigar Orujova

Azerbaijan has switched gears in its quest to host major international events from sports to organizing international Olympiads in the sciences. Recently Azerbaijan had hosted the International Chemistry Olympiad and has now been chosen to welcome the International Olympiad in Informatics in 2019.

The International Olympiad in Informatics will be held in Azerbaijan and Singapore in 2019 and 2020 respectively, said Krassimir Manev, President of the IOI and Professor of Computer Science Department at New Bulgarian University, Kazakh media reports.

This year, the IOU was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, from July 26 to August 2, gathering 84 teams and 324 contestants. The two-day competition was won by South Korean student Ji Hak Yun, who scored 600 points out of 600 possible.

The Azerbaijani team was represented by Sharif Afandi, Rustam Aghayev, Kamal Eyubov, Elgun Jabrayilzade as well as team leader Ramin Alinazim Mahmudzade and deputy leader Ismayil Sadigov for this year’s competition.

“In 2019, Azerbaijan will host the competition. However, since this time Singapore had a strong desire to host the Olympiad, we decided this year to select both states. Thus, in 2020, the Olympiad will be held in Singapore,” said Manev.

Next year, the IOI will for the first time be held in Kazan, Tatarstan at Kazan Federal University. Iran will host the 2017th Olympiad, and in 2018 Japan will welcome IOI.

Azerbaijan now stands at the stage of developing the non-oil sectors of its economy and Information and Communication Technologies is of particular interest.

The state is the largest consumer of high-tech products in the Azerbaijani market. Currently the country's public sector is working with many major vendors and manufacturers of high-tech products as the state budget for the purchase of IT-hardware and software increases.

Today, Azerbaijan is focused on solving the problem of the "digital divide" between the center and the regions of the country. Projects developing broadband infrastructure and satellite systems will play an essential role in overcoming this pressing problem. .

It should be noted that the host of the inaugural European Games, Azerbaijan will welcome other grand international competitions in the future, including a Formula 1 race in 2016, the Islamic Solidarity Games in 2017, and UEFA EURO 2020 matches.