The Inaugural Programme started off promptly at 9.30 a.m. with an Invocation in Sanskrit by Ms. Amravati Biswas. Dr. Padma Wankar briefly introduced the ACM ICPC and competently compered the programme.

The Welcome Address was given by Professor Krishna Kumar, Dean of Academic Affairs, IIT Kanpur. He welcomed all visitors to the Institute campus and elaborated on the structure of the Contest. A special invitation was extented to the participants and their coaches to visit the special facilities at IIT Kanpur, like its Central Library, CAD Center and the Flying Club.

Professor K A Padmanabhan welcomed all participants to IIT Kanpur. He emphasized the importance of developing cutting-edge technologies, a goal to which IIT Kanpur is committed. Professor Padmanabhan spoke also of the abundant interest and enthusiasm present in young people today. The role of teachers is to nurture and not stifle this curiosity and potential for original thinking. Contests such as the ACM ICPC are valuable especially because they promote creativity and innovation in students.

Mr. Kiran Deshpande, Managing Director and CEO of Mahindra British Telecom Limited was introduced by Ms Wankar as the Chief Guest. He spoke briefly to the participants, sharing with them his insights into the current state of the software industry in India and the challenges confronting the young professionals.

Dr. Phalguni Gupta, Contest Director, Kanpur Site, presented the Vote of Thanks. He informed participants that Professor C.J. Hwang, Director Asia Region ACM ICPC was unable to attend the Contest due to ill-health. Professor Hwang has been a source of inspiration as well as a prime mover behind the increased interest in the Contest in Asia and his presence is sorely missed. Among those who were thanked for their support were the sponsors of the Contest: IBM, MBT, Tata Infotech, Infosys and Veritas; also Tata McGraw Hill who have given copies of books for all participants and Addison Wesley and Prentice Hall of India who have given books for the winners of the Contest. Dr. Phalguni Gupta specially thanked Dr. Abul L. Haque (North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh), Mr. Sudhakar Chopra (DOEACC), Dr. N. Subramanian (Tata McGraw Hill) as well as Dr. K.A. Padmanabhan (Director IIT Kanpur) and all colleagues and students for their unstinting support.

In the debriefing session following Tea, Dr. Deepak Gupta, Systems Committee Chair assigned team numbers to all the teams. He also explained the Contest Environment and the PC² Software. Following this, the Chief Judge, Dr. Manindra Agarwal, explained the Judging Rules and answered queries from the participants.

Inaugural Speech of Chief Guest, Kiran Deshpande, MD MBT