INSIDE STORY

Welcome to the 15th annual special international issue of OR/MS Today. From the beginning, the goal of the special issue has always been to turn the spotlight on interesting applications of operations research beyond the United States, as well to give readers a glimpse into how history, geography, resources, culture and politics impact the way O.R. is taught, preached and practiced around the world.

This year’s edition focuses on three truly international topics that should concern us all: healthcare, the environment and education.

While the special issue topics and contributors change every year, Andres Weintraub remains a constant. Andres, a renowned professor at the University of Chile and a former president of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies, has helped me plan every international issue from Day 1.

This year’s Wide World of O.R. tour begins in Sweden, where co-authors Patrik Flisberg, Mikael Frisk and Mikael Rönnqvist walk us briskly through the logistics of using forest biomass as an energy source for district heating. While much of the world is running on fossil fuel, Sweden harnesses nearly 50 percent of its total energy from renewable resources such as forest biomass. For more on how O.R. helps deliver efficient, renewable energy in Sweden, see page 18.

Speaking of forests, contributor Andrea Feunekes is the co-founder and co-CEO of a company that provides “lifecycle optimization solutions for land-based assets” (i.e., forest planning and management). Through a series of case studies, including one involving the largest pulp and paper company in Brazil, Feunekes makes the case that with the right technology, economic and environmental goals can be met harmoniously without sacrificing one of the world’s greatest natural resources: forests.

Perhaps no topic has drawn more attention from analysts (as well as a few politicians) over the past few years than healthcare. Whether it’s public, private or some combination of the two, every responsible nation in the world strives to have an efficient, quality, affordable healthcare system. Systems analyses, along with efficiency, quality and cost-savings, happen to be the calling cards of the operations research community, so it only makes sense that O.R. folks are turning their analytical eyes on the healthcare industry. And with healthcare costs soaring, competition increasing and systems in need of reforming, it’s no wonder the healthcare community is, finally, turning to O.R. for help.

Along those lines, Martin Puterman and other leaders of the CIHR Team for Operations Research in Improved Cancer Care investigated cancer care delivery in British Columbia, including chemotherapy scheduling and radiation therapy workforce planning (see page 26).

Abhijit Bhaduri, an analyst and author based in Bangalore, India, compares and contrasts the different healthcare histories and scenarios of India and China (page 36). Bhaduri notes, “As home to one-third of the world’s population, India and China are too large to ignore from a global healthcare viewpoint.”

India is not only home to 1.2 billion people, it is also emerging as a global leader of analytical talent and cost-effective solutions. Rohit Tandon and Arnab Chakraborty of HP Global Analytics outline how an emphasis on higher education and scientific research, coupled with its system of national technical institutes, has given rise to analytics centers of excellence throughout India (page 32).

— Peter Horner, editor
peter.horner@mail.informs.org