This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Conference on Applied Algorithms, ICAA 2014, held in Kolkata, India, in January 2014. ICAA is a new conference series with a mission to provide a quality forum for researchers working in applied algorithms. Papers presenting original contributions related to the design, analysis, implementation and experimental evaluation of efficient algorithms and data structures for problems with relevant real-world applications were sought, ideally bridging the gap between academia and industry. The 21 revised full papers presented together with 7 short papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 122 submissions.

This Festschrift volume is published in honor of Professor Paul G. Spirakis on the occasion of his 60th birthday. It celebrates his significant contributions to computer science as an eminent, talented, and influential researcher and most visionary thought leader, with a great talent in inspiring and guiding young researchers. The book is a reflection of his main research activities in the fields of algorithms, probability, networks, and games, and contains a biographical sketch as well as essays and research contributions from close collaborators and former PhD students.