What are effective techniques for staying up-to-date with algorithm development in Operations Research?

Relying on academic sources for OR algorithm updates has limitations: 1. Limited Implementation Guidance: Academic publications often focus on theory and lack practical implementation guidance, including code samples and real-world strategies needed by industry professionals. 2. Industry Variability: Academic research may not address industry-specific challenges, requiring practitioners to seek industry-specific resources and case studies.

Regularly peruse journals like "Operations Research" for insights into novel algorithms, e.g., enhanced linear programming for supply chain optimization.

Operations Research (OR) is a wide area of knowledge. When I start with a new problem I usually search in scholar google and top journals about the problem I want to solve. I start with surveys, the most cited and lasts published. A survey focuses on collecting and presenting technical information, often to describe the history of discoveries about a given topic. This will give me context about the most relevant techniques and the newest trends for the problem.

Engage with experts on platforms like Operations Research Stack Exchange to discover emerging techniques, such as evolutionary algorithms for complex scheduling. This should be completely based in one's mindfulness to learn & get updated. Initially can be started with Video tutorials which are available free on Google platforms, later can be progressed to Podcast & curated online webinars.

Follow the blogs, websites, and communities of the most relevant tools. This will give you the most recent advances on each platform. In my case I follow: - Gurobi Optimization blog - IBM Ilog Cplex - COIN-OR - OR-tools from Google - jMetal and jmetalPy On LinkedIn, I try to follow the top voices on Operations Research.

I completely agree with this, various Software tools which help us to solve from a simple sudoku problem to a OMNI channel distribution. Basically all sorts of operational research and development can be 10X times better when we enhance it using these tools. Especially based on my experience Gurobi is very helpful for Students & Management professionals to solve all the supply chain problems, 90% of the features are made available with the basic version which makes it more handy and accessible.

Most of the tools offer a community edition on which you start playing and learning it. Also, some of the tools offer an academic license with full features. If you still have access to your university email you can test it (just remember that it is for academic use and not commercial use). Remember to take a look to the documentation of each platforms. Some of them offer examples with a step by step to solve different types of problems.

Actually I disagree! Many conferences are saturated and they deal with the similar operational problems which are basically outdated, Majorly it's on basic level and it won't help us to expedite the learning curve rather it could be a refresher training part to regularise with the basics

By actively engaging with researchers from various countries and universities, you can establish valuable connections with those who may be addressing similar challenges. It's not only beneficial to concentrate solely on Operations Research (OR) conferences; broaden your scope to include events in diverse fields like machine learning, data science, statistics, and smart cities. Attending such conferences provides a unique opportunity to discover research endeavors where OR methodologies are applied to solve specific problems in various domains beyond traditional OR contexts. This interdisciplinary approach can yield valuable insights and foster collaborations that enrich your understanding and impact in the broader research community.

Join professional associations like INFORMS (Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences). These organizations often offer resources, webinars, and publications to keep members informed about algorithmic advancements. EURO & IFORS can also be helpful for knowledge sharing and receiving recently published research articles with top speakers of various operational domains!

Take advantage of the LinkedIn groups, you can find great communities (OR group, Operations Research Analyst, Operations Research and Mathematics). In these groups you can also ask for guidance on techniques and problems. Those are great places to share knowledge and get feedback.