HSE University and Yandex to Host International AI Olympiad for Students
The HSE Faculty of Computer Science and Yandex Education are launching their first joint AI competition, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analysis Olympiad (AIDAO), for students from around the world. Participants will tackle challenging tasks in science and industry and interact with experts from HSE and Yandex. The winners will receive cash prizes.
Students from technical programmes at Russian and international universities are eligible to participate. The goal of the Olympiad is to identify talented students and challenge them with tasks that require innovative thinking and in-depth knowledge. First place winners will receive 600,000 roubles, second place—450,000 roubles, and third place—300,000 roubles.
Nikita Anisimov
‘We see the demand for AI experts growing every year, and HSE is one of the top Russian universities for training AI specialists. We have extensive experience in organising various types of Olympiads, and together with Yandex, a recognised industry leader and our long-time partner, we aim to create a synergy that will allow students from different countries to showcase their talents in AI and big data. This Olympiad will help them fully realise their potential both during their studies and in their future careers,’ said HSE University Rector Nikita Anisimov.
The Olympiad consists of two stages: online and offline. Registration for the first stage will start on September 9 and last until October 5, 2024. Students must complete one task on the Yandex Contest platform to participate. All submissions will be automatically checked in the first stage. If the task is solved correctly and meets the requirements, participants will advance to the next round.
The second stage will take place from November 30 to December 2, 2024, in Moscow. Projects will be evaluated by a panel of experts, including Evgeny Sokolov, Head of the Big Data and Information Retrieval School at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science, Elena Kantonistova, Academic Supervisor of the HSE Artificial Intelligence Programme, Aleksey Tolstikov, Head of Yandex School of Data Analysis, Alexander Mamaev, Head of ML at Yandex Taxi, and Denis Derkach, Director for Applied Research and Development at the AI and Digital Science Institute and Head of the Laboratory of Methods for Big Data Analysis (LAMBDA) at the HSE Faculty of Computer Science.
Darya Kozlova
‘Yandex continues to develop educational formats to address the shortage of highly qualified professionals in the field of artificial intelligence. We currently offer bachelor's, master's, and doctoral programmes in AI. This year, we introduced interdisciplinary programmes on neural networks for students from various fields, and now, together with HSE University, we are launching the first international Olympiad. Our goal is to share expertise and create conditions for talented students to gain experience aligned with industry needs,’ noted Darya Kozlova, Director of Yandex Education.
The Olympiad tasks are created by researchers and experts from Yandex and HSE University and are based on real-world product cases. For example, the tasks include predicting satellite positions using AI, estimating taxi drivers’ waiting times, or interpreting physiological data using computer vision and data analysis knowledge.
The assignment texts will be provided in English. To complete them, participants need to have a good understanding of mathematical statistics, probability theory, basic algorithms and data structures, time series analysis, fundamental machine learning techniques, and deep learning frameworks. Additionally, they should be able to work with data, be proficient in Python programming, and have skills in teamwork and presenting results.
To participate in the Olympiad, you can submit a team application (comprising 2-3 members) or join existing teams.
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