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This year’s ICPC World Finals Astana was remarkable, and we were thrilled to be a part of it. The event brought together the world’s brightest young minds in competitive programming. Engaging with students, coaches, and the community was a valuable experience that reinforced our commitment to supporting emerging talent.
The Opening Ceremony held at the Presidential Center kicked off an incredible week. We were honored to receive an ICPC Foundation Global Service Award in recognition of our service as an ICPC Global Programming Tools Sponsor, providing outstanding programming tools for the global programming community and sponsoring ICPC regional and global contests, including the ICPC World Finals Astana.
Andrey Ivanov, Senior VP of Investments, Research, and Education, accepted the award and delivered a speech that perfectly sums up the reason behind JetBrains’ lasting commitment to the ICPC:
I strongly believe that the challenges we’re facing now require all the talented humans of the world to work together as a community. The ICPC unites people from around the globe, guided by the golden rules and Bill Poucher’s leadership. And that is the reason why we, JetBrains, are together with the ICPC, and will be together for as long as we can. Because it’s something that resonates profoundly with our beliefs. We’d like to expand the community, because community and friendship are what really matter. I actually met some of my friends who I’ve known for 20+ years, and they are part of the ICPC community. So come to us, talk to us, and become our friends; that’s why we’re here. Thank you, and good luck!
Throughout the whole week, an expo area was open for participants to get to know the local culture, relax, and talk with sponsors. We had a great team at the ICPC World Finals, with our colleagues from university relations, development, advocacy, events, internships, and HR teams. We enjoyed meeting people at our booth, talking about JetBrains IDEs, team tools, Kotlin, and more, sharing insights into our latest projects and advancements, and discussing the results of the Kotlin challenge that we offered as a fun activity to test their problem-solving skills.
At every World Finals, we host a presentation called the JetBrains Tech Trek, where we provide an overview of our products and feature famous figures from the programming community to demonstrate them.
This year, we invited Gennady “tourist” Korotkevich and Andrew “ecnerwala” He, two of the world’s most decorated competitive programmers, to join us on stage and solve problems from our own Kotlin Heroes competition. Check it out here.
Matt Ellis, Developer Advocate at JetBrains, also gave several presentations targeted specifically at coaches and Regional Contest Directors. These talks focused on the tools and resources we offer to educators and learners, including free licenses, IDEs, AI Assistant, benefits of using Kotlin for teaching, as well as information about our ICPC Pafos Camps, internships, contests, and much more.
The ICPC World Finals in Astana was truly impressive, with teams from universities around the world tackling complex problems with great skill. Congratulations to the team from Peking University for winning the 48th ICPC World Finals, to the teams from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Tsinghua University, and Tokyo Institute of Technology for securing the gold medals, and to all of the other teams who made it to Astana and competed.
Looking back at a year that featured three World Finals (check out our post celebrating the ICPC World Finals Luxor that took place this April), plenty of regional contests, and the first European Championship, where we’ve met so many great teams and coaches, we’re excited for the next ICPC season – expanding our outreach and finding new ways to support students and educators alike. To every participant, coach, and organizer we met, thank you for your dedication, passion, and willingness to push the boundaries of what’s possible. You are the true stars of this event, and we are honored to be a part of your journey.
Here’s to another successful year at the ICPC – and many more to come! Subscribe here to receive updates about ICPC-related events.
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