Dozens of colourful balloons floating in the air can be seen at Técnico Innovation Center. At the end of each balloon string, students can be seen holding them, filled with helium, as they carry them to their final destination: the tables of each team that has completed one of the 12 challenges in the final phase of the International Collegiate Programming Contest – Southwestern Europe Regional Contest (ICPC-SWERC).
This vibrant scene fills the Técnico Innovation Center powered by Fidelidade, in Lisbon, from November 21 to 23. During this time, Instituto Superior Técnico serves as one of the venues for the ICPC-SWERC 2025 qualifying round, which is organised locally by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering. With national and international participants from countries such as Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Italy and Israel, the event will feature 142 teams and will take place simultaneously in three different locations – at Técnico, in Lyon (France) and in Pisa (Italy).
The final challenge begins early, at 8.30 a.m. on Sunday, with teams composed of three elements. The right answer is not enough; every minute counts, and the students are racing against the clock to stay ahead of the pack, their fingers energetically tapping away at the dozens of keyboards. As each problem is solved, a balloon of a different colour is handed to a volunteer, who decorates the respective table to celebrate the team’s achievement.
“It’s always good for Técnico to host these competitions”, says Tomás Duarte, a master’s student in Computer Science and Engineering who participates in these competitions for the third and last time, as he is completing his master’s degree. “Every three or four weeks, when we were available, we would get together, simulate a competition and then discuss the problems”, he says, describing the preparation of his team, RunTimeTerror, which had a new member in this year’s edition.
Alexandre Francisco, a professor at Técnico, vice-president for Digital Technologies and co-director of the event, explains that “many students have the skills and qualities necessary to participate in events like this”. “It is essential for them to be aware of such opportunities and to dedicate some time to training and preparation beforehand”. The effort to organise the event was made “so that we have more teams, more motivated teams and students who want to participate in the future”, he says, also adding that the Department “will soon organise the national artificial intelligence Olympics, among other events of this type”.
With these two editions now complete (news published on the occasion of the 2024 edition), the School’s role as co-host and co-organiser of these qualifying rounds has come to an end, and it is now preparing to share its experience and resources with other institutions. “The event went very well. We were responsible for managing the website in Lisbon and for handling the technical aspects related to the images displayed on computers and the servers that evaluate the submitted solutions”, comments the co-director of the event. “Last year also went well, but it was the first time we were organising this event, so this year we had to make some adjustments”, he concludes.
The teams and their coaches watched the results (and the overall table) as they were updated in real time by the software developed by Técnico. Each correct answer was met with applause and celebration, but the anticipation of seeing the confirmed results generated palpable tension and the noise gradually died down. In the end, when the table closed, Lisbon said goodbye to its partners in Lyon and Pisa, and all that’s left are the memories and smiles on the participants’ faces.
