The Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO) is a peer-reviewed technical conference in the area of evolutionary computation, broadly interpreted. GECCO conferences have been held every year since 1999, when the first one was established as a recombination of the International Conference on Genetic Algorithms (ICGA) and the Annual Genetic Programming Conference (GP). Since 2005 it has been organised by the Association for Computing MachinerySpecial Interest Group on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation.
History
The first Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO[1]) was held in 1999 after two pre-existing conferences, the Annual Conference on Genetic Programming (GP, held since 1996[2]), and the International Conference on Genetic Algorithms (ICGA, held biennially since 1985[3]) merged.
Because of the breadth of topics covered, GECCO conferences are organised in multiple parallel tracks, in order to create time for presentation even after peer-review has reduced the number of papers from those initially submitted. The slogan "One Conference: Many Mini-Conferences" appears on the website[17] of GECCO 2004 and those of many other GECCO conferences.
Tracks
The tracks may change over time following trends in research and application of evolutionary computation. The 2025 GECCO conference provides recent examples[81]:
BBSR - Benchmarking, Benchmarks, Software and Reproducibility
Each GECCO conference invites speakers with a considerable record in the field of evolutionary computation or in other aspects of public engagement to give keynote presentations. For example, at GECCO 2024 they were[82]Toby Walsh, Suzie Sheehy and Una-May O'Reilly.
Women+@GECCO
Since 2013 there has been a workshop held at each GECCO conference to support women in evolutionary computation. It includes an interactive poster session[83].
Workshops
The workshop slots of GECCO conferences allows time to be devoted to subjects that might not be addressed fully in the main conference. Workshop organisers identify how their slot will be used and often issue a call for papers, separate from the main call for papers for the conference. In addition there is a Student Workshop[84] allowing students of evolutionary computation early in their careers to engage in the conference.
GECCO 2023 in Lisbon included 23 workshops, many of which were successors to ones held in earlier years[85].
Tutorials
Since evolutionary computation is very much about the implementation of novel solutions using software engineering techniques (with the exception of the theoretical aspect of the field) the tutorials section of a GECCO conference allows attendees to be introduced to areas of the field that they are not so familar with. GECCO 2022 in Boston included 38 tutorials[86]. Despite the mention of software engineering above some of these tutorials covered somewhat theoretical topics: A Gentle Introduction to Theory (for Non-Theoreticians)[87] or Theory and Practice of Population Diversity in Evolutionary Computation[88].
Tutorials and Workshops have in recent years taken place prior to the main conference, see the program of GECCO 2025 for an example[89]. Tutorial abstracts and workshop proceedings are published in the companion volume[79].
Late Breaking Papers/Hot Off The Press
Time was introduced in the earlier GECCO conferences for late submissions that could not go through the full peer review process to be published in the main proceedings. These were referred to as Late Breaking Papers, and in more recent GECCO conferences have been referred to as Hot Off the Press (HOP). The outline of the GECCO 2021 program[90] shows where HOP papers appear in that year. HOP papers are published in the companion volume[66].
Poster sessions
Time has been made available in GECCO conferences for presentation of posters focused on the topics of the tracks of the main conference[91]. Poster abstracts are published in the companion volume[79].
Evolutionary Computation in Practise (ECiP)
The ECiP track focuses on application of evolutionary computation in industry, or on applied collaboration between academia and industry in the use of evolutionary computation. Speakers in this track present real world examples[92].
Competitions
In addition to the Humies contest referred to on the ACM SIGEVO website[93] and in the Awards section below, other competitions are organised for GECCO conferences to stimulate solutions using evolutionary computation and related algorithms. During the conference time is available for the competitions in parallel with workshops and tutorials[89]. Abstracts of competition entries are published in the companion volume[79].
The SIGEVO Outstanding Contribution Award recognises outstanding contributions in the field of evolutionary computation over at least 15 years[95].
THe GECCO Best Paper awards are awarded for each track of a GECCO conference[96].
The SIGEVO Dissertation Award recognises thesis research within the scope of GECCO conferences carried out in the year prior to a conference[97].
The SIGEVO Impact Award recognises papers that were published in a GECCO conference ten years earlier, that have been assessed to have had considerable impact on the field of evolutionary computation[98].
The SIGEVO Chair Lecture is a lecture sponsored by ACM SIGEVO given by influential researchers in the field[99].
The Humies Awards[93] are presented at GECCO conferences for human-competitive results using any form of genetic or evolutionary computation published in the previous year. They are not sponsored by ACM SIGEVO but originated through a donation from the computer scientist John Koza.
Significance
GECCO conferences cover a very wide range of topics (see the Tracks described above).
The length of the proceedings[78][100] and the length of the companion volumes[79][101] suggest a high level of participation even after peer review is carried out.
The GECCO conferences have persisted over 27 years[102] (see history above) and more are planned in the future[80]. This suggests a major impact on the evolutionary computation community.
^"ACM Digital Library". ACM Digital Library. Association for Computing Machinery. Retrieved 27 September 2025.
^Some proceedings only reference a "Chair" rather than "Editor", if so the chair will be cited as editor because they will have overall responsibility for the proceedings.
^"GECCO 2005". Genetic and Evolutionary Computation COnference 2005. ACM SIGEVO. Retrieved 23 September 2025.
^Beyer, Hans-Georg, ed. (2005). GECCO '05: Proceedings of the 7th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781595930101.
^All following conferences have been organised by ACM SIGEVO.
^Cattolico, Mike, ed. (2006). GECCO '06: Proceedings of the 8th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781595931863.
^Lipson, Hod, ed. (2007). GECCO '07: Proceedings of the 9th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781595936974.
^Bosman, Peter AN; Yu, Tina; Ekart, Aniko, eds. (2007). GECCO '07: Proceedings of the 9th annual conference companion on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781595936981.
^Keijzer, Maarten, ed. (2008). GECCO '08: Proceedings of the 10th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781605581309.
^Keijzer, Maarten, ed. (2008). GECCO '08: Proceedings of the 10th annual conference companion on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781605581316.
^Rothlauf, Franz, ed. (2009). GECCO '09: Proceedings of the 11th Annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781605583259.
^Rothlauf, Franz, ed. (2009). GECCO '09: Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference Companion on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference: Late Breaking Papers. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781605585055.
^Pelikan, Martin, ed. (2010). GECCO '10: Proceedings of the 12th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450300728.
^Pelikan, Martin, ed. (2010). GECCO '10: Proceedings of the 12th annual conference companion on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450300735.
^Krasnogor, Natalio, ed. (2011). GECCO '11: Proceedings of the 13th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450305570.
^Krasnogor, Natalio, ed. (2011). GECCO '11: Proceedings of the 13th annual conference companion on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450306904.
^Soule, Terence, ed. (2012). GECCO '12: Proceedings of the 14th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450311779.
^Soule, Terence, ed. (2012). GECCO '12: Proceedings of the 14th annual conference companion on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450311786.
^Blum, Christian, ed. (2013). GECCO '13: Proceedings of the 15th annual conference on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450319638.
^Blum, Christian, ed. (2013). GECCO '13 Companion: Proceedings of the 15th annual conference companion on Genetic and evolutionary computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450319645.
^Igel, Christian, ed. (2014). GECCO '14: Proceedings of the 2014 Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450326629.
^Igel, Christian, ed. (2014). GECCO Comp '14: Proceedings of the Companion Publication of the 2014 Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450328814.
^Silva, Sara, ed. (2015). GECCO '15: Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450334723.
^Silva, Sara, ed. (2015). GECCO Companion '15: Proceedings of the Companion Publication of the 2015 Annual Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450334884.
^Friedrich, Tobias, ed. (2016). GECCO '16: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2016. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450342063.
^Friedrich, Tobias, ed. (2016). GECCO '16 Companion: Proceedings of the 2016 on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450343237.
^Bosnan, Peter A. N., ed. (2017). GECCO '17: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450349208.
^GECCO '17: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. 2017. ISBN9781450349390.
^Aguirre, Hernan, ed. (2018). GECCO '18: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450356183.
^Aguirre, Hernan, ed. (2018). GECCO '18: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450357647.
^López-Ibáñez, Manuel, ed. (2019). GECCO '19: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450361118.
^López-Ibáñez, Manuel, ed. (2019). GECCO '19: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450367486.
^The GECCO 2020 conference was intended to be held in Cancun, Mexico.
^Coello Coello, Carlos A., ed. (2020). GECCO '20: Proceedings of the 2020 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450371285.
^Coello Coello, Carlos A., ed. (2020). GECCO '20: Proceedings of the 2020 Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450371278.
^The GECCO 2021 conference was intended to be held in Lille, France.
^Chicano, Francisco, ed. (2021). GECCO '21: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450383509.
^ abChicano, Francisco, ed. (2021). GECCO '21: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450383516.
^Fieldsend, Jonathan E., ed. (2022). GECCO '22: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450392372.
^Fieldsend, Jonathan E., ed. (2022). GECCO '22: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9781450392686.
^"Hybrid" means held both in the geographical location and online for attendees that do not travel.
^Silva, Sara, ed. (2023). GECCO '23: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9798400701191.
^Silva, Sara, ed. (2023). GECCO '23 Companion: Proceedings of the Companion Conference on Genetic and Evolutionary Computation. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9798400701207.
^Li, Xiaodong, ed. (2024). GECCO '24: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9798400704949.
^Li, Xiaodong, ed. (2024). GECCO '24 Companion: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computng Machinery. ISBN9798400704956.
^ abOchoa, Gabriela, ed. (2025). GECCO '25: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9798400714658.
^ abcdeOchoa, Gabriela, ed. (2025). GECCO '25 Companion: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. ISBN9798400714641.
^"Women+@GECCO". GECCO 2025: Women AT GECCO. ACM SIGEVO. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
^Ochoa, Gabriela, ed. (2025). "WORKSHOP SESSION: Workshop - Student Workshop". GECCO '25 Companion: Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference Companion. New York, NY: Association for Computing Machinery. pp. 2580–2615. ISBN9798400714641.