Back to school, learn about the latest developments in Operations Research

The Operations Research in the Netherlands is worldwide considered to be of high quality, both with respect to research and real-life applications. People in the international Operations Research community are often surprised that such a small country as the Netherlands has so many Operations Research consultancy companies and practitioners. Moreover, the number of Franz Edelman award finalists and winners in the Netherlands is astonishing.

On the other hand, it seems that the Dutch Operations Research community (both in academia and industry) is not eager to embrace Data Science as a valuable addition to Operations Research. Industry, however, seems to look more and more for Data Scientists who are broader educated than Operations Researchers. This observation triggers several questions. Should current Operations Research practitioners get better acquainted with the developments in Data Science and expand their skill set? Should Data Science courses be included in educational programs, such as our MSc and PhD programs? What are the scientific and practical challenges when Operations Research is combined with Data Science? Is it time to step out of our comfort zone?

All of these questions will be dealt with during this conference.

List speakers:

• Alexander Rinnooy Kan (Universiteit van Amsterdam, Big Data Alliance);
• Emile Aarts (rector magnificus, Tilburg University);
• Dimitris Bertsimas (Professor Operations Research/Statistics, MIT);
• Merwin de Jongh (Founder & CTO, Building Blocks);
• Gertjan de Lange (Connecting Business and Optimization SVP, AIMMS);
• Patrick Hennen (COO at ORTEC Data Science and Managing PartnerORTEC);
• Han Hoogeveen (Utrecht University);
• Aziz Mohammadi (Director Advanced Analytics, VodafoneZiggo);
• Seppo Pieterse (Fellow and Founder of Quintiq) ;
• Arjen Vestjens (Managing Partner, CQM);
• Bernard Vroom (Operations Research Group Manager, Air France-KLM).

The conference language is English. Registration is possible via the Seminar On-line Registration Form. The conference fee is 100 Euro for LNMB and NGB members, and 150 Euro for others. The conference fee covers lunch, coffee, tea, and the drinks.