The International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IMMC or sometimes IM2C) is an international mathematical modeling competition for high school students in team mathematical modeling co-sponsored by COMAP and the NeoUnion ESC Organization. Teams are selected on a country-by-country basis, with each country sending up to two teams to the competition. The IMMC was inspired by the High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM), a similar contest sponsored by COMAP but mainly attracting teams within the United States. The HiMCM in turn was established in the 1990s to create a high school counterpart to COMAP’s MCM. Contestants in the IMMC are given five days to research (the contest permits the use of any inanimate source) and write a mathematical paper detailing their mathematical model for a given situation. At the conclusion of the five-day period, papers are sent to an international expert committee composed of mathematics faculty from the world’s leading universities. Traditionally, 2-4 teams are awarded the top designation of Outstanding and invited to an awards ceremony, held in a different country or region each year.
Team selection Each participating country is expected to choose its two best teams of one to four contestants each to compete in the IMMC. Globally, different methods have been used to select teams from their respective countries. Hong Kong holds the contest early and allows any interested team to participate. A national judging panel selects the two best papers to move on to the international round of the competition. In 2015, 60 papers came out of the Greater China region alone. In 2015, the United States used a different qualification process, inviting the top two teams from the 2014 HiMCM to compete in the IMMC. In 2016, the United States adopted a hybrid of Hong Kong’s approach and its own former approach: any team receiving a score of Meritorious or higher in the 2015 HiMCM (roughly 25% of competing teams) was invited to compete in the 2016 IMMC. As in Hong Kong, the United States held the IMMC early, completed a national round of judging, and selected the two best papers to move on to the international round. Most countries use a selection process similar to that used by Hong Kong, and countries entering the IMMC for the first time will also likely adopt a similar process.
Judging Papers passing the national selection round move on to the international expert judging panel.
Participation
2015 17 teams from the following countries competed in the 2015 IMMC:
Belgium Hong Kong SAR Macau SAR People's Republic of China Russia Singapore Slovakia Thailand The Netherlands United States of America
2016 40 teams from the following 23 countries or regions competed in the 2016 IMMC:
Australia Belgium Bulgaria Canada Chile People's Republic of China Germany Hong Kong Japan Macau Malaysia Mexico The Netherlands New Zealand Philippines Russia Singapore Slovakia South Korea Taiwan Thailand United Kingdom United States of America
2017 49 teams from the following 27 countries/regions competed in the 2017 IMMC:
Argentina Australia Canada China Denmark Germany Hong Kong (SAR) Israel Japan Macau (SAR) Malaysia Mexico New Zealand Papua New Guinea Philippines Poland Portugal Russia Singapore Slovakia South Korea Taiwan Thailand The Netherlands Turkey United States of America US Virgin Islands
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024 68 teams from the following 36 countries/regions competed in the 2024 IMMC:
Argentina Australia Azerbaijan Austria Cameroon Canada Chile China Egypt Germany Hong Kong (SAR) Indonesia Ireland Macau (SAR) Mexico Nepal The Netherlands New Zealand Norway Pakistan Philippines Poland Portugal Russia Singapore Slovakia South Korea Spain Syria Taiwan Thailand Turkey United Arab Emirates United Kingdom USA Vietnam
2025 69 teams from the following 39 countries/regions participated in the 2025 IMMC. In addition, Romania was unsuccessful
Argentina Australia Austria Bangladesh Cameroon Canada Chile China Germany Hong Kong (SAR) India Indonesia Kazakhstan Macau (SAR) Mexico Nepal New Zealand The Netherlands Norway Malaysia Pakistan Philippines Poland Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore Slovakia South Korea Spain Syria Taiwan Thailand Turkey Turkmenistan United Arab Emirates United Kingdom USA Vietnam
Results
References
External links "The International Mathematical Modeling Challenge (IMMC)". Archived from the original on 2015-08-01. Retrieved 2026-01-13. How to Fix Our Math Education by Sol Garfunkel, founder of IMMC