OLD GREENWICH, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 7, 2026--
WorldQuant, a global quantitative asset management firm, today announced the winners of the sixth International Quant Championship (IQC), its flagship global quantitative research competition. This year’s IQC marked another year where registrations have nearly doubled year over year since 2024 – growing from ~38,000 participants in 2024 to ~80,000 in 2025 to ~156,000 in 2026.
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The winners were selected following the Global Finals in Singapore on October 6–7, where 13 finalist teams developed and presented new alphas¹ in a live challenge before a panel of WorldQuant leaders. The finalists represented 13 universities across four continents, reflecting the breadth of the global talent pool entering quantitative research.
The 2026 IQC Champions:
“AI is reshaping how innovation happens,” said Igor Tulchinsky, Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of WorldQuant. “With the right tools, an individual can now work at a scale that once required a full team. However, these tools do not decide which questions matter. This year’s finalists showed that judgment, imagination and accountability remain essential to turning faster execution into original insight.”
The competition is managed through WorldQuant BRAIN, an interactive, web-based simulation environment. Competing for the chance to win from a prize pool of $100,000 2, this year’s Global Finals teams were evaluated on the originality, quality and diversification of their alphas¹. The event convened students whose academic backgrounds span computer science, mathematics, engineering, economics and related disciplines, illustrating how quantitative research benefits from varied perspectives and ways of thinking. Olympic medalists and world champion athletes also addressed participants, sharing the mindsets, discipline and resilience that contribute to elite performance.
“This year’s finalists demonstrate how the IQC is expanding access to quantitative opportunities for students around the world, across diverse skills and backgrounds: more than 40,000 women participated and approximately 28% of participants came from Africa,” said Nitish Maini, Chief Strategy Officer at WorldQuant. “AI tools are opening the quant industry to more people. It isn’t replacing researchers but instead enabling more people to participate and develop ideas. At WorldQuant, we believe quantity drives quality, and I am excited to see what this global field of competitors achieves.”
There was a notable increase in solo participation this year, demonstrating that AI-enabled workflows may be helping individuals take part in quantitative research. Among the top-performing solo competitors, success was defined by how effectively they paired these tools with human judgment, including identifying meaningful problems, exercising context and evaluating ideas rigorously.
IQC is part of WorldQuant’s broader commitment to broadening access to careers in quantitative finance and identifying talent globally. Through WorldQuant BRAIN, research consultants worldwide are eligible to receive compensation based on the quality of their ideas. Top IQC participants may also be considered for research consulting roles, internships or full-time positions at WorldQuant.
For more information about the 2026 IQC and WorldQuant BRAIN, please visit https://www.worldquant.com/brain/.
About WorldQuant
WorldQuant is a global quantitative asset management firm. Founded in 2007 by Igor Tulchinsky with the belief that talent is global, but opportunity is not, WorldQuant has more than 1,100 employees spread among 28 global offices. WorldQuant seeks to get to the future faster, guided by the principle that there are an infinite number of insights to discover. The firm develops and deploys investment strategies across a variety of asset classes in global markets.
¹ WorldQuant defines “alphas” as mathematical models that seek to predict the future price movements of various financial instruments.
² Subject to eligibility.
WorldQuant Announces Winners of the 2026 International Quant Championship
CAIRO (AP) — Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed new attacks on airports and military facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as the kingdom is pulled deeper into the latest front in the Iran war, which also threatens a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.
As the Saudi capital is targeted again, new cage-like fences have been erected this week around fuel tanks and other equipment of the Saudi state-run Aramco oil company near the Riyadh airport. The kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter, has seen oil and military assets targeted in recent days.
The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said on social media that the rebels launched ballistic missiles and drones against King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said they intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh. Flights were briefly disrupted, according to Flightradar24.
Now Saudi Arabia and allied Yemeni forces have launched a major ground and air offensive aimed at retaking territory that the rebels seized a month ago along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast and on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Those positions gave the Houthis better surveillance as they pursue a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping. On Monday, officials said forces of the Saudi-led coalition recaptured several key areas around the strait, through which about 12% of global trade transits.
“The Houthis believe that they can maximize Saudi economic costs and compel Saudi Arabia to surrender to Houthi demands by striking civilian infrastructure, such as oil facilities and airports,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in an analysis.
The Houthi spokesperson said they also targeted Abha airport in Saudi Arabia, a frequent target of rebel drones and missiles. The rebels also claimed to hit an air base in the city of Khamis Mushait and two military bases in Najran and Asir. All are in the southwest, near the Yemeni border.
Inside Yemen, fighting has centered in and around the crucial town of Dhubab, some 54 kilometers (33.5 miles) south of the port city of Mokha that the rebels seized last month, according to both the Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognized government.
Clashes were also reported in Waziayah district in southwestern Taiz province, which links Yemen’s highlands to the Red Sea and overlooks roads to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Al-Malki has vowed “full operational support” to Yemeni government forces until the Houthis are “eliminated.” The coalition has said 100 fighter jets were providing support. Another aim is to liberate Sanaa, Yemen’s rebel-controlled capital.
Houthi leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi criticized Saudi Arabia over support for Yemen’s government forces in the latest escalation with the Houthis, which has shattered a truce reached four years ago.
Rebels are ready to support Palestinians in every way they can in case of “any new round of escalation” with Israel, al-Houthi said in a speech Wednesday expressing solidarity with Gaza on the third anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
The offensive began after the rebels seized Turbah town on a main road linking the provincial capital of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, with Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government. Officials have said U.S. support has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning.
The escalation has revived Yemen’s civil war after a four-year ceasefire. Almost 1,000 people have been killed in the latest fighting, with over 200,000 displaced, according to the United Nations. Cholera and malnutrition cases are increasing, access to trauma care is more difficult and some hospitals have shortages of surgical and other supplies, the World Health Organization said this week.
The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early Wednesday against Aden. An Associated Press journalist heard explosions around 2 a.m.
The rebels hit a military camp close to the city's airport with ballistic missiles, Saree said. Security authorities in Aden said the Houthis targeted the airport with two missiles, with no casualties. The airport is close to the seat of government.
One missile hit close to the runway just before the scheduled landing of a flight from Cairo, the Human Rights Ministry said. Flight 603, operated by Yemen’s flagship airline, landed safely in Aden at 3:30 a.m., according to the flight tracking platform FlightAware.
The ministry said the missile hit as other passengers were waiting to board their flight to the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.
Houthi supporters chant slogans during an armed tribal rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Houthi supporters attend an armed tribal rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
A Houthi supporter carries a rifle while attending an armed tribal rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)
Displaced Yemeni women wait to receive aid supplies at the Al-Salam camp in Dar Saad district, Aden, Yemen, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
An aerial view shows the Al-Salam camp, which shelters displaced Yemenis, in Dar Saad district, Aden, Yemen, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
A displaced Yemeni reads a newspaper at the Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran on the western outskirts of Aden, Yemen, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)
