The 2018 International Collegiate Competition for Brain-inspired Computing encourages participation

2018-06-28

On June 26, the 2018 International Collegiate Competition for Brain-inspired Computing (ICCBC 2018) held a press conference at the Unisplendour International Center, Beijing. The competition kicked off at the beginning of the year and a total of no more than 16 teams will be selected to compete in the finals. One million RMB has already been set in place as award for winners.

The ICCBC 2018 is an innovation competition in the field of brain-inspired computation, which is hosted by Tsinghua University. The organizers are the Office of Scientific R&D, Tsinghua University and the Center for Brain-Inspired Computing Research (CBICR) of Tsinghua University. The co-organizers are Tsinghua Holdings Co Ltd, Lynxi Technologies Co Ltd and IEEE THU Student Branch. The competition is aimed at promoting brain-inspired computing, developing general intelligence, encouraging college students to innovate in technology, and improving professional skills through practice, so that more people can understand and focus on brain-inspired computing.

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"Brain-inspired computing refers to the effort of making fundamental changes in existing computing systems at the multiple levels of hardware, software, and algorithm, with inspiration drawn from the neural network structure of the brain and its operation mechanism of information storage and processing and guided by the solid understanding of modern information technology theory," said Professor Luping Shi, a member of Recruitment Program of Global Experts at Tsinghua University.

In 2017, the First National Collegiate Contest & International Invitational Tournament for Brain-inspired Computing and Application was held by Tsinghua University. It attracted 229 teams from 47 universities and research institutes from China and abroad. The entries covered topics including hardware, algorithms, software, and applications. Sixteen teams entered the finals. After a rigorous review by well-known Chinese and international experts, a team from Sichuan University eventually won the Grand Prize.

This year's competition invited the Department of Science and Technology of the Ministry of Education and the Service Center for Enterprise Innovation of China Association for Science and Technology to further guide the competition. In addition, the competition will further expand its scale and focus on international students. The contest is currently open for registration.

According to the contest, the entries need to focus on brain-inspired computing, including but not limited to: robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), smart wearable devices, natural language processing systems, human-computer interaction systems, and smartphone applications. New ideas, algorithms, and applications are especially encouraged. The entries should show the universality, practical value, and the potential for applications.

Moreover, education is a highlight that expects innovative applications at all levels and in all aspects, on educational system design, new educational methods, virtual teachers, students, classrooms, and labs, etc.

The competition is targeted at full-time undergraduates and postgraduates who are registered at regular universities and research institutes, both in China and abroad. There are no restrictions on grades and majors. Both individual and team entries are welcomed. Participants need to sign up on the official website of the contest (https://contest.cbicr.org/) before midnight on July 29, 2018. The competition is divided into two stages: preliminaries and finals. The finals will be held at Tsinghua University on October 13th and 14th. Then 16 selected teams will compete for the final awards (including Grand prize; 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-place awards and Excellence prize), and each award comes with a certificate. The total amount of the award is one million RMB and the Grand prize is 300,000 RMB.

The competition hopes to promote the basic and application research of brain-inspired computing, attracting more people to join the research of the brain-inspired field, said the competition organizer. It is expected to arouse student interest in brain-inspired computing and tap into the characteristics and advantages of brain-inspired computing, and promote the overall development of fundamental theories, software algorithms, hardware chips, and application-based computing systems.

Details of the competition can be found on the official website, official WeChat account, or the official website of the Brain Computing Research Center at Tsinghua University (https://www.cbicr.tsinghua.edu.cn/).

Competition registration and further details can be found at:

Competition website (online registration):

https://contest.cbicr.org/

Center for Brain-Inspired Computing Research official website:

https://www.cbicr.tsinghua.edu.cn/

Official WeChat account:

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