This volume contains the papers selected for presentation at IPCO VIII, the Eighth Conference on Integer Programming and Combinatorial Optimization, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2001. This meeting isa forum for researchers and practitioners working on various aspects of integer programming and combi- torial optimization. The aim is to present recent developments in theory, com- tation, and application of integer programming and combinatorial optimization. Topics include, but are not limited to: approximation algorithms, branch and bound algorithms, computational biology, computational complexity, compu- tional geometry, cutting plane algorithms, diophantine equations, geometry of numbers, graph and network algorithms, integer programming, matroids and submodular functions, on-line algorithms, polyhedral combinatorics, scheduling theory and algorithms, and semide nit e programs. IPCO was established in 1988 when the rs t IPCO program committee was formed. The locations and years of the seven rs t IPCO conferences were: IPCO I, Waterloo (Canada) 1990, IPCO II, Pittsburgh (USA) 1992, IPCO III, - ice (Italy) 1993, IPCO IV, Copenhagen (Denmark) 1995, IPCO V, Vancouver (Canada) 1996, IPCO VI, Houston (USA) 1998, IPCO VII, Graz (Austria) 1999. IPCO is held every year in which no MPS (Mathematical Programming Society) International Symposium takes place. Since the MPS meeting is triennial, IPCO conferences are held twice in every three-year period. Asa rule, IPCO is held somewhere in Northern America in even years, and somewhere in Europe in odd years.
