The next generation of elite computer software engineers will meet in Phuket tomorrow to compete in the 40th Annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) World Finals. The event is sponsored by IBM and hosted by Prince of Songkla University.

The 39th Annual ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) held last year in Morocco.

This competition will not only bring together the world's top student developers, but will also give them an opportunity to interact with advanced technologies in cloud, cognitive computing and more.

Headquartered at Baylor University and known as the "Battle of the Brains", one of the world's oldest, largest, and most prestigious programming contests serves as a proving ground for the elite lever of collegiate programmers, challenging them to solve a series of complex real-world problems in just five hours. Huddled around a single computer, the 128 teams of three students will race against the clock in a battle of logic, strategy and mental endurance.

In addition to competing in the World Finals, students will be exposed to the latest technologies from contest sponsor IBM through speakers and interactive, on-site demos of IBM Bluemix IBM's cloud platform, and IBM Watson, IBM's platform for cognitive business. The combination of Bluemix and Watson, with their extensive API support, allows developers to rapidly build cognitive business solutions that run in secure hybrid cloud environments.

Currently on-boarding more than 200,000 developers each week, Bluemix is rapidly gaining momentum as a platform to quickly access and build with the most advanced set of APIs available, including tools and services in cognitive, unstructured data, IoT, cyber security, and more.

The participants will also have the opportunity to meet with current IBM professionals to learn about industry trends and professional opportunities.

"IBM's goal as lead sponsor is to celebrate the world's best computing students, expose them to key technology trends such as cloud and cognitive intelligence, and get them excited about pursuing a career in programming," said Gerald Lane, ACM-ICPC sponsorship executive and director, IBM Open Technologies & IP.

"As more organisations across the globe turn to cloud and other advanced technologies to transform how they operate, they will be looking towards talented developers -- such as these contestants -- to help them build new IoT and analytic technologies on the cloud."

The 128 World Finalists emerged from local and regional ICPC competitions. Initially, selection took place from a field of more than 300,000 students in computing disciplines worldwide. A record number of students advanced to the regional level, as 40,266 contestants from 2,736 universities in 102 countries on six continents competed at more than 480 sites, all with the goal of earning one of the coveted invitations to Phuket. Of the 128 teams competing in the World Finals, 23 represent universities in the US.

The contest will begin at 9.30am in Phuket tomorrow. A live broadcast will air on ICPCLive.com and live contest standing will be available on Myicpc.icpcnews.com