More Than One Thousand Foreign Guests Arrived

Bangladesh is this year’s host country for The International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), the most respected and prestigious international contest for solving computer programming problems for university level students. The contest is organized almost every year especially for the young generation, which started in 1970. The 45th edition of ICPC is led by the ICT Division of Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh where the Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) of the ICT Division is acting as the executing agency and the University of Asia Pacific (UAP), Bangladesh is the host university of this contest.

ICPC Foundation along with Bangladesh Computer Council (BCC) and the host university, University of Asia Pacific (UAP) are the principal organizers of the 45th ICPC World Finals Dhaka. All the activities aimed at organizing this event in Bangladesh have been completed, and last-minute preparations are underway. This program will be inaugurated on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at noon.

The details of hosting the ICPC in Bangladesh including the important issues are highlighted in the Meet the Press Program. On Sunday, November 6, 2022, BCC organized “Meet the Press” of “ICPC World Finals Dhaka” at the BCC Auditorium, ICT Tower, Agargaon, Dhaka.

The Hon’ble State Minister for the ICT Division of Bangladesh Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP briefed at the ‘Meet the Press’ program to the television, print and online Media. Dr. William B. Poucher, President of the ICPC Foundation & ICPC Executive Director was also present at the Press Briefing.

Among others, the Senior Secretary of ICT Division Mr. N M Zeaul Alam PAA, the Deputy Executive Director of ICPC & ICPC Director of World Finals Contests Dr. Michael J. Donahoo, the Vice President of Corporate Communications of Huawei Mrs. Vicky Zhang, the SVP of Investments, Vice President of Research and Education of JetBrains Mr. Andrei Ivanov and the Vice-Chancellor of UAP & Director of ICPC World Finals Dhaka Prof. Dr. Qumrul Ahsan and the Executive Director of BCC Mr. Ranajit Kumar were also present at the program.

The Hon’ble State Minister for the ICT Division Mr. Zunaid Ahmed Palak MP said this event is a great opportunity to showcase our capabilities in ICT. At the same time, it is also an opportunity to establish contact with the current leadership of the future ICT leaders of our country. Mr. Palak also invites all guests to taste the beauty and hospitality of Bangladesh.

Palak further said, “In 13 years we have improved a lot in the ICT sector. 13 years ago we had only 5 million internet users which are now 130 million. 13 years ago there was no ICT industry, exports in the technology sector were only 26 million dollars. Now, it comes to 1.4 billion dollars every year from software, hardware and service sectors. He said that according to a statistic, Bangladesh is the second largest country in the list of online sources of workers. Finally, he said that we have achieved the success of becoming Digital Bangladesh and based on that success, we now want to build a sustainable, knowledge-based and innovative ‘Smart Bangladesh’ by 2041.”

The President of the ICPC Foundation Dr. William B. Poucher said that ICPC is a competition for the universities of the world. Our mission is to uplift every class to build on our strengths of a better world for future generations. And that requires a commitment to excellence. He also said that to become excellent we have to develop a habit of excellence and the habit of excellence will be best developed when people get together and discover what we can actually do rather than simply measure based on what we have done. He ‍also said that we want to create opportunities for everyone. For this, such events as ICPC are very important. I am very excited about this event being held in Bangladesh.

The Senior Secretary of the ICT Division Mr. N M Zeaul Alam PAA said that Bangladesh is always very fast to accept and adapt new technology. He also said our country takes the ICT sector as one of the major sectors for the development of the country. He also added that the ICT sector of Bangladesh has seen some tremendous growth, with revenue from ICT related work jumping from $26 million to $1 billion, with the number still raising. Our e-Commerce sector has expanded rapidly, our BPO industry gained faster pace and we have even managed to send our own satellite into space.

The Vice-Chancellor of UAP Prof. Dr. Qumrul Ahsan expressed heartfelt gratitude to ICPC Foundation, BCC and the ICT Division. He said ICPC is the premiere global programming competition being the oldest, largest and the most prestigious contest which is considered as the “Olympics of Programming Competitions”. He also said that it is the greatest honor for UAP to host this prestigious competition as it is the first time that something of this magnitude has been hosted in Bangladesh.
The Deputy Executive Director of ICPC Dr. Michael J. Donahoo said, we are here to celebrate the best of the best problem solvers in all of the world. Because the Future needs these great problem-solvers. We all need these great problem solvers to make the infrastructure that we all have come to rely on work in the future.

The Executive Director of BCC Mr. Ranajit Kumar said that Dhaka is ready for this electrifying final of ICPC. He also added that Bangladesh has the capability and the capacity to host the biggest event of the programing world like ICPC. We have already taken all the necessary preparation for organizing this biggest initiative successfully.

It should be noted that Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) was honored as the champion in Asia West region in the 44th ICPC World Finals last year. This year, talented contestants from around 137 teams from 70 countries are participating in the final round of this contest. Apart from 200 ICPC Regional Contest Directors, more than 1000 foreign guests including officials are already arriving in Bangladesh for the occasion. ICPC Regional Directors will participate in different symposiums and seminars. This year’s “ICPC World Finals Dhaka” is starting from November 8, 2022 at the International Convention City Bashundhara (ICCB) located in Bashundhara, Dhaka. The main element of the contest of Problem Solving Part will be held on 10 November where the participants will solve the problem within 6 hours using their skills and talent. The champion of the event will be announced at the closing ceremony on 10 November 2022.

It can be specially mentioned that this is the first time that Bangladesh is being added as the 4th country in Asia after China, Japan and Thailand as host countries. Bangladesh has been participating as a competitor in the ICPC since 1998.
The final of the first National Computer Programming Competition (NCPC) was held in Dhaka in 1998 where Hon’ble Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina was present as the Chief Guest.

A total of 8 talented teams from – Bangladesh are participating from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), University of Dhaka, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET), North South University (NSU, American International University- Bangladesh (AIUB), Jahangirnagar University and University of Asia Pacific (UAP) are participating in this global contest this year from Bangladesh. A special training was organized by the ICT Division in the month of October of this year for the final phase of the contest. The ICT Division is expecting tremendous achievements from Bangladesh in this year’s event as well.