Students of Shanghai Jiaotong University Crowned World Champions of the IBM-Sponsored 'Battle of the Brains'

HARBIN, China, Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Students from Shanghai Jiaotong University have been crowned the 2010 ACM (ACM) International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Champions. Sponsored by IBM (NYSE: IBM), the competition took place today at Harbin Engineering University (HEU) in Harbin, China, home of the International Snow and Ice Sculpture Festival.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090416/IBMLOGO )

Referred to as "The Battle of the Brains," the ACM ICPC World Finals challenged the world's top 103 university teams to use open standard technology in designing software that solves real-world problems. Each team of three students faced eleven problems of varying levels of difficulty. Framed around IBM's Smarter Planet initiative, the contest problems were modeled after real-world issues such as developing programs which will predict where rain water from tsunamis and hurricanes will accumulate. In five short hours, students solved more than a semester's worth of computer programming material.

The teams were awarded medals based on the number of problems they solved correctly in the shortest amount of time. Shanghai Jiaotong University successfully solved seven of the problems. The World Champions will return home with the "world's smartest" trophy as well as IBM prizes, scholarships and the greatest prize of all – a guaranteed offer of employment or internship from IBM.

"As the initiatives of IBM's Smarter Planet continue to gain momentum, the possibilities for using new technologies to help improve our everyday lives grow exponentially," said Doug Heintzman, director of strategy at IBM Software Group and sponsorship executive of the ICPC. "The students who qualified for this year's World Finals are among the leaders in the push to create, develop and execute these advancements for our future."

At the ACM-ICPC, a world technology showcase also brought students hands-on experiences with emerging technologies, which will help generate new ideas and build careers.

"These students are at the top of their field, with the potential to solve the world's most serious problems," said Dr. Bill Poucher, ICPC executive director and professor of the Baylor University. "The ACM-ICPC provides the forum for these students to showcase their capabilities and gain exposure among top recruiters, like IBM who are in need of fresh talent to fill the jobs of tomorrow."

Moscow State University, National Taiwan University, and Taras Shevchenko Kiev National University finished the competition in second, third, and fourth places all winning Gold medals, as well as employment or internship offers from IBM.

The regional champions are Stanford University (North America Region); Moscow State University (Europe Region); The British University in Egypt (Africa and the Middle East Region); Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Latin America Region); Shanghai Jiaotong University (Asia Region); and The University of Western Australia (South Pacific Region).

This year's top thirteen teams that received medals are:

• Shanghai Jiaotong University  (GOLD)
• Moscow State University  (GOLD)
• National Taiwan University  (GOLD)
• Taras Shevchenko Kiev National University  (GOLD)
• Petrozavodsk State University  (SILVER)
• Tsinghua University  (SILVER)
• Saratov State University  (SILVER)  
• University of Warsaw  (SILVER)
• St. Petersburg State University  (SILVER)
• Zhongshan (Sun Yat-sen) University  (BRONZE)
• Fudan University  (BRONZE)
• KTH – Royal Institute of Technology  (BRONZE)
• Ural State University  (BRONZE)

The 103 teams in the World Finals in Harbin were selected from more than 7,109 teams of 1,931 universities from 82 countries on six continents. Since 1997, the IBM-sponsored ICPC has grown 800 percent in size.

About the ACM ICPC

Headquartered at Baylor University (http://www.baylor.edu), the ACM ICPC is a global competition among the world's university students, nurturing new generations of talent in the science and art of information technology. For more information about the ACM ICPC, including downloadable photographs, and the complete World Finals roster and final standings, visit ICPC headquarters Web site http://acmicpc.org. A podcast series "Battle of the Brains" is at http://battleofthebrains.podbean.com. RSS feeds are available. For IBM's insights, visit www.ibm.com/university/acmcontest/. Follow the contest on Twitter at http://twitter.com/brainbattleicpc.

About IBM

For more information on IBM software, please visit http://www.software.ibm.com.

About ACM

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery www.acm.org, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting computing educators, researchers and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources and address the field's challenges. ACM strengthens the computing profession's collective voice through strong leadership, promotion of the highest standards, and recognition of technical excellence. ACM supports the professional growth of its members by providing opportunities for life-long learning, career development, and professional networking.

SOURCE IBM