IOAI Spain 2026–2027

Any student who meets all of these:

• Spanish citizen, permanent resident in Spain, or enrolled full-time at a school in Spain;
• 20 or under on 1 July 2027;
• in full-time secondary education on or after 1 December 2026, including FP Básica and grado medio (not grado superior or university). Homeschooled students qualify if they’re still working toward a secondary school diploma;
• not taking part in another country’s IOAI 2027 selection.

Yes, if they have permanent residency in Spain or are enrolled full-time at a school in Spain. The other conditions are the same as for everyone, and they can’t take part in another country’s IOAI 2027 selection.

Not to register: anyone who meets the conditions can sign up, with no prior knowledge of AI or programming. The selection comes later, in the Spanish Olympics in AI: a qualifying stage, a regional stage and a national final, from which the best students go on to the selection camp. See the calendar on ioai-spain.org for up-to-date dates.

Registration also gives free access to the preparation course. There, a short self-assessment suggests which track to start on. It’s only a guide and doesn’t affect your place in the Olympiad.

Yes. No programming experience is needed to register. The preparation course includes a basic track for students who have never programmed or haven’t used Python: two self-paced courses, one in Python (about 30 hours) and one in mathematics (about 25). Students on the basic track can also follow the standard track at the same time.

No, the preparation course is optional, although completing it shows commitment and can be taken into account later in the selection. Students who already code and know some machine learning can take a challenge to go straight to the advanced track.

The preparation course has three tracks of increasing difficulty. Their content overlaps, so students don’t need to finish one track before moving up: they can check in regularly and switch when they feel ready.

• Basic: Python and the mathematics the standard track needs.
• Standard, the main course: Machine learning, from classical methods to neural networks, computer vision and natural language processing, and on to transformers and multimodal, generative and audio models.
• Advanced: Everything in standard, with harder tasks, five additional lectures and about 50 practice problems with written solutions.

On the standard track, lessons take up to about three hours a week: a recorded lecture of up to 2 hours and a recorded seminar of up to 80 minutes. On top of that there is a practical task, which each student does at their own pace.

The preparation course runs from October to February, with a three-week winter break when no new lessons are published.

Nothing, at any stage. IOAI Spain covers the training, travel, accommodation and meals for the in-person stages, and for the selected team, the International IOAI Bootcamp in Bangkok and participation in the World Finals.

English, because the World Finals are in English. This applies to the preparation course, all stages of the Spanish Olympics in AI, the selection camp and the International IOAI Bootcamp.

The preparation course is fully online. In the Spanish Olympics in AI, the qualifying stage is online, and the regional stage can be taken at a regional center or online. The national final and the selection camp are in person, in Barcelona. For the selected team, the International IOAI Bootcamp in Bangkok and the World Finals in Singapore are also in person.

Yes. Questions about the preparation course can be asked in the platform chat. For anything else, please reach out to your regional center or directly to info@ioai-spain.org. Our team will be happy to help.

The preparation course and the online stages take place outside school hours. For all events, we try to fit around school calendars and timetables, especially in the earlier stages. However, these vary between autonomous communities and schools, so we can’t account for every case. We encourage families to check the calendar on ioai-spain.org early, in case a student needs to miss school to attend an event.

Yes, if they meet the same conditions as everyone else. Homeschooled students qualify if they don’t yet hold a secondary school diploma and are working toward one, and they need Spanish citizenship or permanent residency in Spain.

We may ask a parent or guardian for a short declaration confirming this whenever this becomes necessary. Registration is individual, through our website, and gives the same access to the preparation course and the same route to the national team as any other student.

Yes, whatever stage they reached last year, as long as they still meet this year’s age and education conditions.

They can move to an easier track whenever they need to, and falling behind doesn’t affect their place in the Spanish Olympics in AI. They can also reach out to us in the platform chat or at info@ioai-spain.org, and we’ll suggest the best way forward.

No. Registration stays open until 7 February, and anyone who joins later has access to all earlier recordings, tasks and solutions. Registering early does have one advantage: mock rounds and long competitions take place on fixed dates and aren’t repeated, so students who join late can’t take part in the ones that have already passed.

Access can take one to two days to be set up after registration. If it hasn’t arrived after that, please check your spam folder or write to us at info@ioai-spain.org.

From the parent or guardian: name, email, phone and relationship to the student. From the student: name, email, date of birth, gender, autonomous community, school and graduation year. We handle all data in line with the relevant data protection regulations; see our privacy policy on ioai-spain.org for details.

Through the stages of the Spanish Olympics in AI. The best students in the qualifying stage go on to the regional stage, and the best in the regional stage go on to the national final in Barcelona. The best students in the final are invited to the selection camp, where students are chosen based on camp performance, results in other competitions and an oral interview. The selected students go on to the International IOAI Bootcamp in Bangkok. This year, the team representing Spain at the World Finals in Singapore will have four students, in line with the quota set by the host. See the calendar on ioai-spain.org for up-to-date dates.

The full preparation course, free, and the experience of competing in an olympiad. They also receive a certificate of participation in the Spanish Olympics in AI showing their result, and a certificate for taking the preparation course.

Harbour.Space Institute of Technology, a higher education institution based in Barcelona, runs IOAI Spain as the only organization accredited by the IOAI for Spain. With more than ten years of experience in camps and training for international olympiads, its students have won gold at the International Olympiad in Informatics 2024 and at the ICPC World Finals 2024. Harbour.Space took Spain to its first IOAI World Finals in 2026, in Astana, where the team won two silver medals, one bronze and three honorable mentions.

By sharing the Olympiad with students and their families. There are no obligations for the school: students register individually on ioai-spain.org, and no prior knowledge of AI or programming is needed, so it’s open to beginners as well as advanced students.

Schools that want to go further can host a regional center, helping students in their region learn how AI works and train for the national team. See ioai-spain.org/regional-centers for details.

There’s no teaching load: we deliver the preparation course ourselves, online. What helps most is encouragement: letting students know about the Olympiad, checking in on how they’re getting on, and helping them plan around the calendar if an event falls on a school day. Questions about the preparation course go to the platform chat, and anything else to info@ioai-spain.org.

No. Any number of students from the same school can take part, as each one registers individually.

It gives students free access to an accredited international competition and to AI training at olympiad level. Students who train over several months bring that knowledge back to the classroom and often encourage classmates to take part, which helps build an interest in AI and STEM at the school that lasts beyond one year. And if a student reaches the national team, that success is shared by their school.

Any student who is curious about AI. No prior knowledge is needed: the basic track starts from scratch, so students who enjoy logic or math but have never coded are a good fit. Students who already code and know some machine learning can take a challenge to start on the advanced track.

No. Each student registers individually on ioai-spain.org. What you can do is share the registration link with your students and encourage those who are interested to sign up.

For privacy reasons, we can’t share individual details about students. However, on written request from the school to info@ioai-spain.org, we can share aggregate information, such as the number of students registered from that school. The simplest way to find out who is taking part is to ask your students directly.

Yes, the two complement each other: the Informatics Olympiad focuses on algorithmic programming, while this one focuses on artificial intelligence. Students who already compete in informatics are strong candidates, and their results in other olympiads are taken into account at the selection camp. We try to avoid date clashes, but we recommend checking our calendar on ioai-spain.org against theirs.