PRESS RELEASE
May 4, 2004
Embassy of the Republic of Armenia
2225 R Street, NW, Washington, DC, 20008
Tel: 202-319-1976, x. 348; Fax: 202-319-2982
Email: [email protected]; Web:
Armenian Programming Contest and Summer School
Background
Enterprise Incubator Fund has been established in the framework of the World
Bank Enterprise Incubator project. The key role of the Incubator is
developing a more coherent and effective framework for IT business support,
as part of the Government’s commitment to raise productivity, increase
competitiveness and support the creation of a modern IT cluster in Armenian
economy.
One of the primary roles of Enterprise Incubator Foundation is to create
Institution – Employer link models which would ensure a sustainable and
permanent supply of qualified technicians and managers for companies as well
as to provide extensive knowledge support to newly emerging business
entities.
Based on the successful implementation of Armenian Programming Contest (APC)
in May 2002, which was planned to be held on a regular basis, as well as
acknowledging the extreme interest in the IT community toward such kind of
competitions, the organization of the second Armenian Open Programming
competition is proposed.
The main objective of the Contest will be to determine the professional
level and skills of ICT young professionals both in the country and Diaspora
for distinguishing the training and educational needs to be addressed in the
future to insure the provision of extensive knowledge support to newly
emerging business entities and specialists.
The competition will provide young IT specialists both form Armenia and
Diaspora with an opportunity to demonstrate and sharpen their
problem-solving and programming. The contest will foster creativity
innovation in building new software programs, and will enable the
participants to test their ability to perform under pressure. It will gather
the best programming talent in Armenia and provide a platform for ICT
Industry and academia to encourage and focus attention on the next
generation of computing professionals as they pursue excellence.
Competition Structure
The event will be comprised of three stages:
–Individual Competition
–Summer School
–Final Contest
The first phase will be organized as on-site competition in Armenia
(Yerevan) and Diaspora centers worldwide (see Annex 1) to allow local and
Diaspora young professionals to resolve a number of programming tasks.
The contest is individual based. Eligibility to participate in the contest
will be restricted only to age limitations: all participants should be under
30. The language of the Contest is Armenian and English.
Special Professional Board, comprised of leading ICT specialists and faculty
will develop a set of tasks to be delivered to each of the contest locations
one hour before the contest beginning. Contests in all locations (with
possible deviations due to time differences) will be organized on the same
date and time to secure equal conditions for all participants. Special
Professional Board will also define assignment duration and evaluation
criteria. The same Board will complete winners’ selection.
At the second stage, winners will get an opportunity to participate for free
in 5-days Summer School organized jointly with one of world leading
IT/High-Tech companies (such as Lycos, Sun, Cisco, Ericsson, etc.) with
advanced curricula. Upon completion of the School, participants will get
certificate of attendance. Summer School will allow local and Diaspora young
professionals to study and to work together on the group assignments, which
will provide excellent networking opportunities as well as sharing
experience and competence. The Summer School is to be located at one of the
country’s resorts.
At the third stage, by the end of the Summer School, final competition is to
be held. The final contest is team-based. Each team should be comprised up
to three people.
Contest Timetable
Event Date
Individual Competition June 1
Summer School June14-18
Group Competition June 18
Annex 1. Organization of Programming Contest in Diaspora Centers
1. Participants
The contest is designed for young IT professionals under 30 years old. As
the contest tasks are to be in the area of programming (see attached samples
of tasks to be solved during the contest, which were developed for the first
programming contest), the participants should be prominent in the area of
programming and software development.
2. Contest Procedure
It is expected that the embassies will identify IT professional company
which will organize the contest and will work directly with the relevant
organization in Armenia to get instructions of contest tasks, procedure,
evaluation criteria, other professional issues.
The tasks will be developed in Armenia by a group of experts. The tasks will
be delivered to the company responsible for organization of the contest at
the Diaspora location one day ahead the actual date of the contest via
e-mail. All contest participants are to be invited to the premises, where
the contest is to be held, and delivered with tasks, which have to be solved
within several hours (the duration of contest will be identified by the
group of experts in advance).
Local Evaluation Committee, comprised of IT professionals, should select up
2 winners.
Before the day of Contest, 1-week preparation work on the identification of
IT company/organization responsible for administration and implementation of
the contest as well as for forming Evaluation Committee should be completed.
The preparation work should also include:
–contest announcement
–identification of location equipped with computers
–organization of applications procedure
–formation of Evaluation Committee
–identification of winners to be sent to Armenia to participate in Summer
School and the final contest together with Armenian winners.
3. Summer School
Winners will be invited to take part in Summer School to be held in one of
Armenian resorts, where they will get a chance to meet with their Armenian
colleagues and to learn together during a week. By the end of the Summer
School, all the participants will grouped in teams (up to 3 persons per
team) and participate in the final contest (the same structure: programming
tasks to be solved within several hours).
The costs of winners round trip to Armenia will not be covered by EIF
resources.