Definitions

ACRONYMS

KBI: Koenigsberger Bridges Institute (Königsberger Brückeninstitut MTÜ)

An EU-based non-profit organization uplifting communities through practical STEM education. Founded by tech entrepreneurs from Canada and Europe

DSAI: Data Science and Artificial Intelligence

A category of emerging tech for the theme of IDSOL.

IDSOL: International Data Science Olympiad

An annual global competition operated by KBI and its accredited partners, showcasing the best student and recent grad projects in DSAI.

JIDSOL: International Junior Data Science Olympiad

The pre-tertiary competition of IDSOL for primary and secondary schoolers. 

ARC: Solution Architecture

1 of 2 streams of the Olympiad competitions featuring Deep Tech and Design Thinking competency. Note: architecture here does not refer to designing buildings and structures.

ENG: Engineering

1 of 2 streams of the Olympiad competitions featuring Deep Tech and Execution competency. Note: ENG here does not refer to English.

PREAMBLE

KBI organizes the International Data Science Olympiad (“IDSOL”), a global annual competition bringing together the best examples of practical applications in data science and artificial intelligence ("DSAI"):

• An Olympiad is not a hackathon: Bring your best work, whether starting from scratch or building up from prior work. No hacking, i.e. design and build without a time limit.

• An Olympiad is not a case competition: Build practical solutions for real-world problems. Consider commercial aspects, but leave financial analysis for a business plan competition.

IDSOL 2025 is held at the KBI Eastern Conference 2025 at the last week of October 2025 in Hong Kong, with the Junior Olympiad Exhibition held at the Diocesan Girls’ School (DGS), the Olympiad Exhibition held at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and the Pitch and Awards Ceremony held at Swire Blueprint.

PARTICIPATION

A Participant is any human who is taking part in IDSOL and other EastCon activities

Main Types

• A Contestant is an individual who intends to compete via at least one project via a team. Also called a DS Olympian for contestants of IDSOL, and a DS Junior Olympian for contestants of JIDSOL.

• An Adjudicator is an individual who evaluates projects according to competition criteria. There are three (3) types: Grand Juror, Expo Judge, and Virtual Adjudicator.

• An Observer is an individual who intends to observe the events, but must be affiliated with an academic or research institution.

Other Types

• A Supervisor is an individual who supervises at least one team; required for teams without any members over the age of 18 years.

• A Journalist is an individual who is affiliated with a prominent newspaper, magazine, news website, or broadcaster.

• A VIP is an individual who is a key stakeholder or decision-maker of a sponsor, supporting organization, or accredited organizing partner.

• An Exhibitor is an individual who is not a key stakeholder or decision-maker of a sponsor, supporting organization, or accredited organizing partner.

• A General Attendee is an individual who does not fall under any of the other participant types and pays full admission to join the events.

REPRESENTATION

All participants may declare their representation of a country or territory:

• By Birthright is granted to a participant born in the country/territory of choice.

• By Citizenship is granted to a participant who is a permanent resident or full citizen of the country/territory of choice.

• By Academic Affiliation is granted to a participant who is currently or formerly a schooler or student of an academic institution in the country/territory of choice upon receiving a formal nomination by the academic institution, and thus would be eligible for additional accolades, such as school medals, innovative educator awards, etc.

KBI reserves the right to amend or reject a participant’s representation, subject to supporting documentation.

KBI is a geopolitically neutral non-profit organization, thus, any description of countries and territories does not represent a definition or support of national sovereignty for any entity and is solely to delineate operational regions for clarity.