On April 4th, Gobierno de Chile received the 2022 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Advanced Analytics, Operations Research and Management Science for improving response strategies to the COVID-19 pandemic using operations research (OR). The purpose of the Franz Edelman Competition is to recognize and reward outstanding examples of operations research, management science, and advanced analytics in practice in the world.

The project, organized by the Chilean Ministries of Health and Sciences, the Instituto Sistemas Complejos de Ingeniería (ISCI) and telecom company Entel, teamed up to highlight the beneficial impact that operations research and analytics could play in combating effects of the pandemic. They developed innovative methodologies and tools that shed light on the actual effects of lockdowns in different municipalities and over time; helped allocate limited intensive care capacity; allowed multiplying the testing capacity; provided on-the-ground strategies for active search of asymptomatic cases based on anonymized mobility data; and implemented a nationwide serology surveillance program. Watch the full presentation below.

“It also shows the importance of investing in science, innovation and technology, and that a small and far away country can produce world-class, world-changing science,” added Andrés Couve, former Minister of Science.

The winner was announced by INFORMS President Radhika Kulkarni, who is an organizer for a Computing Community Consortium sponsored workshop series on Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research. Organized by the CCC, the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and ACM SIGAI the series aims to catalyze research and exploit synergies between the fields of AI and OR to maximize the societal impact of each field and hopefully inspire more projects similar to what Chile accomplished with OR. You can find out more about the workshops here.