2021 Edelman Competition

The Franz Edelman Competition attests to the contributions of operations research and analytics in both the profit and nonprofit sectors. Since its inception, cumulative benefits from Edelman finalist projects has topped the $302 billion mark. Edelman finalist teams have improved organizational efficiency, increased profits, brought better products to consumers, helped foster peace negotiations, and saved lives. 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.

Finalists will compete for the top prize in this “Super Bowl” of O.R. practice, showcasing analytics projects that had major impacts on their client organizations. The competition takes place on Monday, April 12 and is open to all conference registrants. The Edelman Awards Ceremony is on Tuesday, April 13 at 5:30 pm EDT.

View the 2021 Edelman Laureates, a listing of all the contributing authors for this year’s teams.

2021 Franz Edelman Award Winner:

Congratulations to UN World Food Programme! For their work:

Towards Zero Hunger with Analytics

The world’s leading humanitarian organization, and 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, is saving and changing lives by delivering food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve nutrition and build resilience. In 2020, WFP assisted nearly 100 million people across 88 countries. Analytics has underpinned WFP’s management of its vast and complex humanitarian operations, helping it reach more people, respond faster in emergencies, and realize significant savings that are used to improve lives and empower communities.