The 31st annual World Finals of the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest will take place March 12-16, 2007, in Tokyo. The United States will be heavily represented at the event with teams from 20 universities, while the Asia-Pacific region is sending 31 teams, including 12 from China and three from Japanese universities; and Europe will have 20 teams, with nine coming from Russia. There will also be teams from Brazil, India, Vietnam, Iran, South Africa, and Kazakhstan, among other countries. The teams will only have five hours to solve at least eight enormously challenging computer programming problems that will be based on real-world business issues. The ICPC champion will be the team that solves the most problems in the least amount of time, and its members will earn scholarships and receive prizes from IBM, which continues to sponsor the event. "In the first decade of IBM sponsorship, ICPC participation has skyrocketed eight-fold," says Baylor University professor and ACM-ICPC executive director Dr. William Poucher. "Together, we shine the spotlight on tomorrow's superstars." The ACM Japan Chapter and the IBM Tokyo Research Laboratory are the co-hosts.
