Egypt has won four medals at the 35th International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI 2023), held from August 28 to September 4, in Szeged, Hungary.
Egypt’s team, formed under the auspices of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and in cooperation with the Arab Academy for Science, Technology, and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), led the Arab and African countries participating in IOI 2023.
Around 352 contestants, representing 87 countries, have participated in the competition, including Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia, and South Africa.
It is the second time that all members of the Egyptian team have won medals in the IOI since its first participation in 2001, thus increasing Egypt’s tally of medals to 31 (six silver and 25 bronze). This achievement comes as a result of the excellence of Egyptian students participating in the IOI and Egypt ‘s keenness in building Digital Egypt through a citizen-centric approach to adopt digital transformation projects and ensure its sustainability.
MCIT also attaches great importance to supporting digital excellence and qualifying citizens digitally, especially youngsters, students, and youth, boosting their ability for technological innovation, and qualifying and selecting top students to represent Egypt in international competitions. These steps would support Egypt's plan to transform into a safe, productive, and sustainable interactive digital society, increase students’ international digital competitiveness in various technological fields, and improve their chances of meeting the requirements of the labor market and future jobs, helping enhance Egypt’s position in international forums and events and gain competitive edge, reflecting on Egypt’s international digital indicators positively.
MCIT, in collaboration with AASTMT, had launched the Egyptian Olympiad in Informatics (EOI) as a local competition nationwide to select the best students who represent Egypt internationally. Over 100 students participated in EOI, and the top 20 were selected for the qualifiers. Furthermore, a 30-day boot camp was co-organized by AASTMT and MCIT to select the four top students to represent Egypt in IOI 2023.
It is worth noting that Egypt will host the 26th IOI for the second time. IOI is a flagship software and systematic problem-solving methods competition targeting school students. The first IOI was held in 1987 in Bulgaria, with contestants from 25 countries. The competition is organized on an annual basis in one of the participating countries, with each represented by a national team composed of four students and two supervisors.
