September means going back to business

September means going back to business

We had unusually long holidays this summer. We had so many holidays that Istanbul’s water consumption fell 27 percent compared with last year in the three months of June, July and August. Alas, September is coming, and it means going back to business.

There are many wonderful activities and events lined up in September, and I want to inform you about the two that I find particularly worth mentioning.

inzva is a non-profit community focused on artificial intelligence and algorithm, supported by BEV.Foundation -an education foundation for the digital native generation, and it is organizing Turkish Programming Contest 2019, which will be held on Sept. 13-15. This event is a multi-tier, team-based programming competition that will be operated under the auspices of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC).

It will take place in collaboration with algotester.com and in partnership with Middle East Technical University, one of the best universities for computer science education in Turkey. ICPC is the best academic programming contest in the world, outpacing others with its title as the oldest and largest-scale competition. Last year, it hosted 52,000 students from 3,200 universities in 115 countries.

inzva invites university teams across Turkey to participate in the national contest in Beykoz Kundura, Istanbul - completely free of charge. The top 10 teams qualifying in this contest can then participate in the Southeastern Europe Regional Contest (SEERC) and will be financially supported by BEV.Foundation. The winning teams of the Southern Europe Regional Contest are eligible to participate in the World Finals of ICPC.

SEERC is the semifinals of ICPC that operate on a regional scale. The participants are from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, North Macedonia, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia and Turkey. Last year, only seven teams out of 87 were from Turkey.

inzva says that it aims to encourage algorithmic, analytical and productive thinking, which will elevate the skill-sets of talented computer engineers such as teamwork, solving various problems and working with time limitations; giving them the chance to build a network in business and academia and a head-start in their professional careers. Promoting this mind sport will in return increase the quality of the competitive environment in Turkey.

The second event that I will write about is AdColony’s Intelligence Summit, scheduled for Sept. 2-3.

Last year, the world’s largest mobile advertising network - AdColony - organized the very first ACIS in Istanbul, with over 350 leaders in the digital advertising industry. It was a two-day event, hosted at Swissotel the Bosphorus and captured insight from marketing professionals on topics like brand safety, ad fraud, viewability, creativity, and so on. Participants came from across over 15 countries from the Middle East to Latin America.

This September, experts will gather at ACIS’19 to discuss the latest trends, make connections with potential partners and share experiences in business while reframing the future of the digital industry. The second edition of the event will also be a platform to network, learn and exchange experiences among peers. Some of the topics that will be discussed are Viewability, Ad Fraud & Pre-Bid Solutions, Cracking the codes of Digital Storytelling, Creating a Sustainable Future for Digital Advertising, KPI Oriented Measurement and Local vs. Global Markets.

If you will be in Turkey in September and work in a digital industry, you may want to drop by to these events.