IOI - International Olympiad in Informatics

What IOI - International Olympiad in Informatics does

The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is a non-profit international educational organization founded in 1989 that operates the annual premier competitive programming competition for secondary school students. Each participating country selects a team of four students through national informatics olympiads, and over 100 countries have participated across the organization's history. The competition tests algorithms, data structures, and problem-solving skills over two days, awarding medals (gold, silver, bronze) and honorable mentions. IOI is one of five internationally recognized science olympiads and is governed by its General Assembly and three volunteer committees (International Committee, International Scientific Committee, International Technical Committee).

The organization's technology stack centers on contest management and evaluation systems — software for task submission, grading, and judging — maintained by the Technical Committee and hosted in the public github.com/ioi/ repository. Supporting it are IOI Statistics (stats.ioinformatics.org, a longitudinal data platform tracking participants and problems), the annual peer-reviewed journal 'Olympiads in Informatics' (Volume 20 published in 2026), the IOI Conference (an annual academic forum held since 2007), and IOI Talks (a 2020-launched virtual events initiative for community engagement between Olympiads). Distribution of the competition occurs entirely through national olympiad organizations in member countries; there is no commercial product or pricing model.

IOI is funded through member country contributions and project grants rather than commercial revenue. It is not privately held, publicly traded, or backed by venture or private equity capital. Operating geographies span the globe on a rotating-host model (Bolivia 2025, Uzbekistan 2026, Germany 2027, Japan 2028), with an extension into a junior tier via the European Junior Olympiad in Informatics (EJOI).

Name

IOI - International Olympiad in Informatics

Legal name

International Olympiad in Informatics

Website

https://ioinformatics.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The International Olympiad in Informatics is a non-profit educational organization founded in 1989 that operates the annual international competitive programming Olympiad for secondary school students, with over 100 member countries sending four-student national teams each year, supported by a Journal, annual Conference, and IOI Talks virtual events.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Educational Competitions / International Science Olympiad

NAICS

Educational Services (611), All Other Miscellaneous Schools and Instruction (611699), All Other Schools and Instruction (61169)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Olympiad-Style Proof & Advanced Topics Programs (Number Theory/Combinatorics/Geometry) (EDAMAEAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

AI & Machine Learning (Foundations & Applied) (EDAMACAG)

Keywords

• Competitive programming competition
• International science olympiad
• Informatics education programs
• Algorithmic contest organization
• Youth computing competitions

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is a non-profit educational organization that runs an annual international competitive programming competition for secondary school students, held over two days of algorithmic problem-solving tasks. The organization also produces supporting offerings including the annual peer-reviewed IOI Journal, the IOI Conference for educators and organizers, IOI Talks virtual events, and community resources such as the IOI Statistics platform and recommended reading materials.

Product overview

IOI (International Olympiad in Informatics) is a non-profit educational organization that runs the annual International Olympiad in Informatics competition for secondary school students. The organization operates a unified portfolio centered on the core competition event, supplemented by several supporting resources: the IOI Journal for scientific publishing, the IOI Conference for knowledge exchange, IOI Talks for virtual community engagement, IOI Statistics for data tracking, and various educational materials including recommended reading lists and video archives. The organization does not offer a commercial software product or platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Olympiads in Informatics (IOI Conference): Annual conference held jointly with IOI to study experiences and develop future plans for informatics education and competitions
• IOI Talks

Products and services

• International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) The annual competitive programming competition for secondary school students, testing algorithms, data structures, and problem-solving skills over two days with challenging informatics tasks. Each participating country sends a team of four students selected through national informatics competitions.
• IOI Journal (Olympiads in Informatics) Annual peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing original high-quality research papers related to informatics education, contest algorithms, and competitive programming pedagogy.
• IOI Conference Annual conference held jointly with the IOI since 2007, covering topics such as task development, automatic testing systems, teaching programming methods, and software for training.
• IOI Talks Virtual events initiative featuring presentations, interviews, book recommendations, and videos of interest to the IOI community, organized between annual Olympiads to keep the community active outside the annual event.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• European Girls' Mathematical Olympiad (EGMO): EGMO is a regional olympiad focused on girls in secondary school mathematics. While regional and subject-specific, it follows the IOI olympiad format and shares the goal of broadening participation in elite STEM competitions.

Direct peers

• International Chemistry Olympiad (IChO): IChO is the third peer in the five international science olympiads family. Its governance, country-membership model, and annual competition structure mirror IOI's operations almost identically.
• International Biology Olympiad (IBO): IBO completes the five international science olympiads alongside IOI. Same annual format, same national-selection funnel, same medal structure — a direct structural peer.
• European Junior Olympiad in Informatics (EJOI): EJOI is explicitly organized under the IOI umbrella and covers younger students in Europe. It directly extends IOI's mission to a junior audience and is operated with IOI's blessing and standards.
• International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO): The IMO is the most directly comparable peer: an annual international olympiad for secondary school students with similar structure (national selection, four-student teams, two-day competition, medal awards). IOI explicitly positions itself as one of the five international science olympiads alongside IMO.
• International Physics Olympiad (IPhO): IPhO is one of the five international science olympiads that IOI identifies as peers. It follows the same annual rotation-by-country, four-student-team model, making it a near-perfect structural analogue despite the subject difference.

Emerging players

• Codeforces: Codeforces is the dominant online competitive programming platform. While it offers year-round contests rather than a single annual event, it draws from the same talent pool and serves as the primary training ground for IOI aspirants.

Others

• Olympiad Olympiads in Informatics (IOI Journal): This is actually IOI's own journal, but functions as a peer-relevant research venue. Other comparable academic journals (e.g., the American Mathematical Monthly's olympiad columns) publish similar contest-related scholarship and serve as the closest content-channel peers.

Broad incumbents

• International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC): ICPC is the university-level equivalent of IOI and shares the algorithmic problem-solving heritage, global regional structure, and medal-based prestige. It is a broader incumbent operating across higher education rather than secondary schools.
• Topcoder: Topcoder runs algorithmic competitions with prize money and corporate sponsorships, overlapping with IOI's talent identification mission. It operates as a commercial platform rather than a non-profit olympiad, making it a broader incumbent in adjacent territory.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/ioi_social
• GitHubgithub.com/ioi
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC7AOss58Xl1d7LBApngEfXw
• Facebookfacebook.com/ioinformatics.org
• Instagraminstagram.com/ioi_social
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ioinformatics

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about IOI - International Olympiad in Informatics