LG CNS said on Saturday it held the global mathematical optimization competition "Optimization Grand Challenge 2026".

Mathematical optimization is a technology that analyzes possible options under given resources and conditions to find the most efficient solution. LG CNS has held the competition every year since 2024 with the Korean Institute of Industrial Engineers.

This year’s event drew 958 teams and 1,448 participants from 55 countries, including the United States, Britain, China, Japan, Germany and India. That was about 2.8 times more teams and more than double the participants from last year’s 343 teams and 676 people.

Participants included overseas universities such as Carnegie Mellon University, Imperial College London, Stanford University and the University of Tokyo, as well as South Korean universities including Seoul National University, KAIST and Pohang University of Science and Technology. Industry professionals from Accenture, IBM, Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor also took part.

This year’s problem was shipyard "block placement optimization". It required building an algorithm that decides where, in what orientation, and when to place hundreds of blocks used to build ultra-large ships within a limited worksite, minimizing space use while meeting delivery deadlines.

It also had to account for each block’s different size and shape, as well as sequencing constraints that require completion of an earlier process before moving to the next.

The top six teams from the preliminary and main rounds presented their algorithms in a final held in South Korea. Judges assessed overall performance and the presentations, and a team from Japan won the top prize.

LG CNS awarded a total of 200 million won in prize money to 20 teams, including the top prize winner. Depending on ranking, it also offers recruitment-linked internships or exemptions from document screening when applying for jobs. It plans to release the algorithm code submitted by the top 10 teams as open source.

LG CNS is currently using mathematical optimization in industries including shipbuilding, defense, steel, logistics, manufacturing, finance and telecommunications. The company said it has carried out more than 200 related business assignments.

Park Sang-gyun (박상균), head of the Entrue division at LG CNS, said: "Bringing out the best efficiency with limited resources is very complex and difficult, but it can be solved with mathematical optimization." He added: "We will continue to grow the competition and, together with talent around the world, expand the horizons of optimization technology."