EPFL hosts first Swiss edition of youth cryptography competition

On May 28, the EPFL School of Computer and Communication Sciences (IC) and Science Outreach Department (SPS) organized the final of the first Swiss edition of the Alkindi Competition, where more than 40 secondary school students from across the country put their code-cracking skills to the test. The Alkindi competition , which originated in France, is named after the ninth-century philosopher Al-Kindi, who is today considered to be one of the founders of cryptography - the study of codes. The finals of the first Swiss edition of Alkindi were organized at EPFL by IC and the SPS in collaboration with French mathematics and programming associations Animath and France ioi. "The goal of the event is to introduce secondary school students to cryptography through fun games," said IC scientist and event co-organizer Lê Nguyen Hoang. "Once an interest in mathematics and computer science is born, hopefully, the students will want to go further, and choose these fields for their future studies," said SPS Director Farnaz Moser. "We're pleased to add Alkindi to EPFL programs designed to introduce youth to topics in science and technology". Both Moser and Deirdre Rochat, IC Head of Communications, agreed that the first Swiss Alkindi edition was a success. "The response has been very positive from the schools and students, who are already looking forward to the next edition," said Rochat. "We hope to continue and grow this outreach initiative next year in Switzerland, while promoting cryptography, mathematics and computer science." Cracking codes against the clock