TEHRAN – Some 100 participants from 25 countries are participating in the final stage of the Rayan international artificial intelligence (AI) and programming contest, titled World Finals, which is being held on-site in Tehran from November 25 to 29.

Supported by the Vice Presidency for Science, Technology, and Knowledge-Based Economy, Sharif University of Technology is hosting the event, according to Mehr news agency.

The scientific contest aims to enhance specialized knowledge, foster international networking, and establish scientific authority in AI and programming.

The event plays a key role in identifying and nurturing talented youths. It serves as a platform to foster creativity and innovation, and an opportunity for experts and those interested in programming to share knowledge and experiences.

Moreover, the event helps participants improve their technical skills and solve complex problems via algorithmic thinking. It helps them to strengthen problem-solving skills, which is one of the most important skills needed nowadays.

The participants are from different countries, including the U.S., Russia, China, India, Italy, Chile, Australia, Iran, Armenia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Taiwan, Romania, Singapore, Poland, Slovakia, Vietnam, Serbia, Argentina, Colombia, Kazakhstan, and Ethiopia.

In the first phase of the contest, held last year, around 30,000 individuals from 137 countries took part, and over 90 percent of them were from foreign countries.

The number of participants in the event highlights the global standing of the competition and its key role in developing scientific interactions among different countries.

International Combinatorics Olympiad (ICO), the Iranian Geometry Olympiad, and international technology Olympics are among other competitions held annually in Iran at the country’s initiative.

The fifth ICO took place in Tehran on October 30 and 31, bringing together approximately 5,000 competitors from over 70 countries both in person and online.

Combinatorics is an area of mathematics primarily concerned with counting, both as a means and an end in obtaining results, and certain properties of finite structures.

ICO is an annual competition focusing on high-quality problems related to combinatorics. The primary objective is to help students become familiar with combinatorics as a creative, broad, and enjoyable topic in a fun and engaging manner, and provide them with the opportunity to compete with students from other countries.

ICO is the first competition in the field of combinatorics, which includes online scoring and ranking. Participation is open to anyone interested in mathematics or computer science, from high school students to any other educational level.

The 12th Iranian Geometry Olympiad was held on October 17, in person and online, attracting 10,000 students from 50 countries.

The Iranian Geometry Olympiad is an annual international competition that assesses students’ skills in solving geometry problems. It enhances logical thinking, imagination, and analytical thinking by using creative and innovative issues in geometry

Over 1,100  participants from 65 countries, including Pakistan, Oman, Vietnam, Tunisia, India, Turkey,  Bangladesh, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Lebanon, Indonesia, the Netherlands, and Romania, attended the second international technology Olympics, held from October 27 to 30, at Pardis Technology Park, Tehran.

The first international technology Olympics was held last year, attracting over 6,300 participants from Iran and other countries. This year, the number of elite Iranian students participating in the event has risen to over 11,000, ISNA quoted Hossein Afshin, the vice president for science, technology, and knowledge-based economy, as saying.

The participants competed in five different fields, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, programming, robotics, drones, and Internet of Things (IOT). Each of these competitions consists of several leagues, covering different specialized areas within the field.

The programming section includes Front-end, Python/Django, Algorithms, and Golang leagues; the AI section covers text processing, data processing, and image processing leagues.

The IOT section focuses on challenges such as smart system design, crisis management, and energy consumption optimization.

The robotics section involves lightweight, heavyweight, and student leagues, and the drone section has various competitions in different fields such as autonomous missions, group flying, and flight intelligence.

The event aims to identify talented individuals, train them, and help them get employed at the national and international levels, Afshin said.

MT/MG