PACE Challenge
Build the fastest exact or heuristic solver for a hard graph problem in a yearly contest
The PACE Challenge (Parameterized Algorithms and Computational Experiments) is a yearly solver contest. Each edition picks one NP-hard problem, publishes formats and public instances, and teams submit solvers that are run on hidden instances in exact, heuristic and sometimes lower-bound tracks.
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About PACE Challenge
It rewards real algorithm engineering: implementing theoretical ideas efficiently, pruning search, and tuning heuristics against a time limit. Past problems include treewidth, Steiner tree, dominating set and one-sided crossing minimisation. It suits strong programmers and researchers; teams often write up their solvers.
Solvers read instances from standard input and are submitted through optil.io, which needs an account and runs a preliminary leaderboard. PACE 2027 is the k-Path problem: public instances arrive in January 2027, submissions open in April and the final deadline is early July.
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