TL;DR: IOI 2021 was planned to held on-site with strong safety measures. Today, IC announced to turn it into an on-line contest (I guess due to travel difficulties). The IC is exploring the possibility of an optional on-site contest.

https://www.facebook.com/ioinformatics.org/posts/458218468862628

Dear Friends of IOI,

I hope you are doing well as COVID-19 is still rampaging all over the world. But as vaccines are becoming available, I hope we can all soon get back to our normal life before the pandemic.

The IC held the Winter meeting in late February. We have the following important information regarding IOI 2021 to share with the community.

First, IOI 2021, organized by Singapore, will still be an online competition much like the previous year. The competition week will fall between mid to late June.

Second, competition aside, in an effort to bring back some normalcy, IOI business will be conducted as usual. This includes collection of registration fees and election of new committee members.

Third, the host and the IC are still exploring possibilities to socially host some teams who can and are willing to travel to Singapore, subject to various Air Travel requirements and COVID-19 safe management measures. Such teams would still sit the contest online from within Singapore, using their own computers. Detailed plans will be announced by the host as they become available.

I hope this information will allow you to start making plans for selecting teams to participate in IOI 2021. The IC and the host team will continue to held online meetings leading up to the IOI in June. We will keep you all updated as things develop further. If you have any questions, please contact the IOI Secretariat at [email protected].

Stay safe and best wishes, Greg Lee IOI President