IFORS 2023: Conference, OR Prize & Chile

Last July, the IFORS Conference 2023 was held in Santiago, Chile. It was an opportunity to discover for the first time about operations research (OR) international competitions as well as meet several OR researchers.

“True optimization is the revolutionary contribution of modern research to decision processes.” — George Dantzig

In this article, I want to share a little bit about this beautiful experience as well as some lessons learned.

IFORS

IFORS stands for the International Federation of Operational Research Societies. It is an umbrella organization bringing together different OR societies from around the world. It was founded in 1957 to promote the development and application of OR and management science (MS) to improve decision-making processes and increase efficiency in various fields such as industry, business, government, and social sectors.

The federation facilitates communication and collaboration among different OR societies and professionals globally. It organizes conferences, workshops, and seminars, publishes journals and newsletters, and provides a platform for researchers, academics, and practitioners to exchange ideas, share knowledge, and advance the field of OR.

IFORS has several member societies and regional groupings affiliated with it. These member organizations represent various countries and regions worldwide and are actively involved in promoting and advancing OR. Some of the member societies and regional groups affiliated with IFORS include the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the Association of Asia Pacific Operational Research Societies (APORS), the Belgian Operational Research Society (ORBEL), the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS), the Italian Society of Operations Research (AIRO), etc.

IFORS Conference

The IFORS Conference is a recurring event organized by the IFORS typically every three years. It brings together researchers, academics, practitioners, and professionals from around the world to discuss the latest developments, research findings, and applications in OR.

The IFORS Conference is a significant international gathering in the field of OR, and it serves as a platform for participants to present their work, exchange ideas, collaborate, and network with others in the field. The conference covers a wide range of topics related to OR, such as optimization, decision analysis, simulation, analytics, and more.

For this year, a tutorial on quantum computing and combinatorial optimization was among the highlights. It showed the recent progress in quantum computing on several well-known OR problems. Among the attendance this year, we note Pr. Fred Grover (Tabu Search), Pr. Thomas Magnanti (MIT), Pr. Roman Słowiński (EJOR), and many great people from the field.

IFORS Prize for OR in Development

The IFORS has a prestigious prize called IFORS Prize for OR in Development. It encourages the usage of OR in developing countries and economies. This year, representing Morocco, we were finalists in this prestigious prize. The selection process started in October 2022 with a 5-page summary. Then, the finalists were announced after a final selection based on a 25-page paper. At the conference, the six finalists presented their work and the results were announced on the last day of the conference. Our team presented the project: “OCP Optimizes its Supply Chain for Africa”.

Lessons from the IFORS Prize for OR in Development

The main lesson generated from the IFORS Prize is the lack of established OR organizations and societies in several developing countries including Morocco. Without established societies, the OR success stories remain unique stories that happen from time to time. To boost the usage of OR to tackle real-life problems in developing countries, such societies play a huge role. The OCP Group is a special case in the Moroccan context, which has been distinguished after being a finalist in both the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award and the IFORS Prize for OR in Development. More success stories are needed.

Chile

While the first edition of the IFORS Prize for OR in Development was organized in Buenos Aires in Argentina, as far as I witnessed, many OR researchers visited for the first time the South American Continent, specifically the beautiful Santiago, and Chile. The latter was the first country to win the prize in 1987 and is definitely among the most advanced among developing economies in OR. While attending the conference, we enjoyed the splendid views, food, culture, and music of this unique country.

To sum up, these academic-oriented trips are unique experiences that last in memory forever. Writing a blog is a way to keep them alive while we progress through life…:-)

What do you think about the presented insights? I am looking forward to hearing your ideas :-)