The CSCSI Precarn Intelligent Systems Challenge
Holger Hoos and I are working on establishing the Precarn CSCSI Intelligent Systems Challenge, a series of annual competitions among university, college and high school students. The students will work on computationally challenging, real world problems faced by Canadian companies, organizations and the society as a whole, using technologies and methods from the areas of artificial intelligence and intelligent systems.
The competition will be a joint initiative by the Canadian Society for Computational Studies of Intelligence (CSCSI) and Precarn Incorporated.
A challenge problem is something that a company would like to see handled by a software program. It must be possible to define the challenge problem in a precise manner, and it should not be trivial. The steering committee of the competition can help distill the essence of the challenge problem and "anonymize" it.
The main objectives of the competitions are:
- to promote innovation in Canada;
- to promote contacts between academia and industry in Canada;
- to increase the awareness of and interest in technologies and methods from the areas of artificial intelligence and intelligent systems for addressing the challenges faced by Canadian industry, organizations and society as a whole; and
- to contribute to the development of students’ aptitude and ability through solving challenging real world problems.
The objective is to start the competition series this year. The challenge problem will be announced at the 2008 Intelligent Systems Collaborative Conference in Windsor, Ontario (13-19 May 2008). Teams will submit their final solutions in early Spring 2009 and winners will be announced at the 2009 Intelligent Systems Collaborative Conference in Kelowna, BC.