The Department of Computing (COMP) successfully hosted the 2024 ICPC Asia East Continent Hong Kong Regional Contest on 21-22 December 2024. The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), formerly known as ACM-ICPC, is a prestigious global competition designed to enhance computer science students' problem-solving and teamwork skills.
This year’s contest marked a significant milestone for ICPC in Hong Kong, attracting a record-breaking 174 teams and over 600 participants from 118 universities across Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia, Malaysia, and Switzerland. Additionally, seven high schools from Hong Kong and Macau participated. This turnout, doubling that of the previous years, made it the largest regional contest ever held in Hong Kong and Macau. This event underscores COMP's remarkable growth since it first hosted the regional ICPC in 2017 with only 45 teams.
Co-organised by the City University of Hong Kong and supported by the Hong Kong Association for Computer Education (HKOI) and Lenovo, the event was made possible through generous sponsorships from Jane Street, Huawei, and JetBrains.
The opening ceremony included remarks from key figures such as Prof. Ken YIU, the contest director, our professor and associate head (Teaching and Learning), who expressed gratitude to the co-organisers and sponsors. Prof. Allen AU, our professor and associate head (Research and Development), welcomed the participants and introduced PolyU's graduate scholarships to encourage further studies. COMP alumna Prof. Wenxin LI, director of ICPC Asia East Continent and professor at Peking University, expressed pride in PolyU's capabilities and the contest's role in nurturing computer science talent.
The contest presented 13 problems of varying difficulty that tested participants' programming skills and algorithmic knowledge. Teams were ranked by the number of problems solved, with tiebreakers based on total time taken and penalties for incorrect submissions. In the end, teams from Peking University, Beihang University, and Harbin Institute of Technology secured the top three positions.
Participants provided positive feedback on the event, highlighting the high quality of the preparations and organisation. Many praised the exceptional competition experience and expressed appreciation for the enjoyable atmosphere.
