Source: in-cyprus.philenews.com
Cyprus will take part in the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence for the first time, sending two national teams to compete in Astana, Kazakhstan, from August 2 to 8.
The participation is the result of a collaboration between the University of Neapolis Paphos, the JetBrains Foundation and the Cyprus Computer Society. The University of Neapolis Paphos helped design and run the preparation programme, hosting the national team’s intensive training stages.
The Olympiad is one of the most significant international science competitions for secondary school students in artificial intelligence, testing competitors in machine learning, data science, programming and complex problem-solving. Although only in its third year, the competition already draws participation from 103 countries and regions.
Eight students aged 15 to 17 will represent Cyprus, chosen after a selection and training process that ran over several months.
The process began with an open call to public and private schools across Cyprus. More than 100 students took part in the first stage, an online programme and initial assessment.
The 30 highest-performing students then took part in a nine-day intensive training programme in February at the University of Neapolis Paphos. Four months of online mentoring followed, before the 14 top-performing students took part in a seven-day advanced preparation programme in July. That process produced the two national teams that will represent Cyprus in Astana.
The Cypriot delegation is made up of:
Team 1: Artyom Konukhov, Christos Alexandrou, Amir Daiyrov and Mariia Shilo.
Team 2: Artem Iankin, Petros Vourmas, Soteris Savva and Alexandros Ktoris.
JetBrains is the official national coordinator in Cyprus, responsible for selecting and preparing the national teams.
The programme’s scientific design and coordination was led by Dr Savvas Chatzichristofi, Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of Neapolis Paphos, Dr Panicos Masouras of the Cyprus Computer Society, and Dr Aleksander Avdiushenko of JetBrains.
The initiative was carried out by the JetBrains Foundation in collaboration with the University of Neapolis Paphos and the Cyprus Computer Society. The intensive training programmes were hosted at the university’s facilities with sponsorship from the Leptos Group and support from The Island Private School.
Plans are already in place to expand the initiative next year, with more academics and researchers from Cypriot universities expected to take part, aiming to strengthen the training process and establish a permanent national preparation programme for the International Olympiad in Artificial Intelligence.
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