INFORMS announces call for entries, 2016 Edelman best cases competition in Analytics, Operations Research

Past Winners Include IBM, Syngenta, CDC, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, HP, GM

CATONSVILLE, MD, September 22, 2015 – The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS), the leading professional association in analytics and operations research, today issued a call for entries to contend for its best cases competition, the Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and Management Science.

The deadline for the initial portion of the application, a summary of achievement, is October 14, 2015. Information on the application process can be found here.

The Franz Edelman competition attests to the contributions of operations research and analytics teams in the profit, non-profit, and government sectors. Its past winners come from around the world and include organizations large and small. In common, they all demonstrate the connection between math modeling and achieving major accomplishments previously thought unattainable.

“Winning a prize as important as the Edelman Award convinces the world at large about the quality of the research, and thus the value of the research groups involved,” wrote Jaap Kwadijk, who led the Edelman Award-winning Dutch Delta Program team, which won for preventing threatened flooding in the Netherlands. “It illustrates loudly and clearly our importance to society.”

Other examples of Edelman Award-winning projects that used math modeling, analytics, and operations research to achieve success are:

• IBM, which reengineered its global supply chain and saved $750 million
• Syngenta, which improved food supplies to an increasingly crowded planet
• CDC, which shrank remaining pockets of polio around the world
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which innovated by applying math modeling to radiation treatment for prostate cancer
• HP, which trimmed its large product portfolio, saving hundreds of millions of dollars
• GM, which saved $2 billion improving its production throughput

Since its inception, cumulative benefits from Edelman finalist projects have neared the $225 billion mark. Next year INFORMS will announce the cumulative social benefits, including lives saved by Edelman projects such as Grady Health System’s program to improve emergency room care and a kidney donation program created, in part, by Nobel Prize-winning economist Alvin Roth.

The purpose of the Franz Edelman competition is to bring forward, recognize and reward outstanding examples of operations research, management science and advanced analytics in practice in the world, with $15,000 in awards.

More information is available at the Franz Edelman Award page on www.informs.org.

About INFORMS

INFORMS is the leading international association for professionals in analytics and operations research (O.R.). INFORMS advances research, and develops and promotes best practices in analytics and O.R. through collaboration, knowledge sharing, and professional development. INFORMS helps business, government, and other organization professionals make better decisions to drive value to their organizations and society. Our certification program (CAP®), highly cited publications, educational meetings and conferences, continuing education, industry and process-focused networking communities, competitions, and recognition provide professionals with the knowledge and connections they need to achieve ever greater value for their organizations. Further information about INFORMS, analytics, and operations research is at www.informs.org or @informs.  

###