In December, the Northern Eurasia Regional Contests (NERC)—the semifinal of the ICPC international programming contest—took place. This year’s competition featured around 300 teams comprising 900 participants from Russia and other CIS countries. The contest took place simultaneously in St Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Astana, and Kutaisi. The majority of teams—a total of 152—took part in the competition at St Petersburg’s MTS Live Hall venue.