Innovative Applications in Analytics Award

The purpose of the Caterpillar and INFORMS Analytics Society Innovative Applications in Analytics Award is to recognize the creative and unique application of a combination of analytical techniques in a new area. The prize promotes the awareness and value of the creative combination of analytics techniques in unusual applications to provide insights and business value.

Applicants can submit proposals that span applications of descriptive, predictive and/or prescriptive analytics, as well as data creation, collection and dissemination which support or enable original analytical methods.

Descriptive innovation could include novel measures, visualization methods, or creative approaches to the analytics process improvement, among others. Predictive innovation might be statistical applications, text analytics or simulation, among others. Prescriptive innovation might include game theory or optimization. New sources of data creation and collection, and new avenues for dissemination of analytical approaches can also help demonstrate the innovativeness of the submission. The lists above are not meant to be exhaustive, but rather illustrative examples of areas of innovation.

2018 IAAA Results

The 2018 IAAA award had 29 participants that applied a diverse set of analytical tools and techniques that provided significant improvements to profit and nonprofit organizations. After a rigorous and difficult process, due to the high-quality level of the applications, a judging committee chaired by Juan R. Jaramillo from Adelphi University selected six finalists. The six finalists presented their innovative applications at the 2018 INFORMS Analytics Conference to the judging committee.  The finalists comprise a diverse set of industries, organizations and nationalities, showing the richness of Analytics Applications today.

The 2018 first place was awarded to SAFE (Situational Awareness for Events): A Data Visualization System (Northwestern University and Bank of America Chicago Marathon) presented by Karen Smilowitz (Northwestern University) and her team. Second place was awarded by MPA-IBM Project SAFER: Sense-making Analytics for Maritime Event Recognition (IBM Research, Singapur and Singapore Maritime and Port Authority, (MPA)) presented by Goh Kwong Heng and Gavin Yeo (MPA), and Laura Wynter (IBM). The third place was awarded to recognize the application by Chassis Leasing and Selection Policy for Port Operations (Scnhneider National Inc.) presented by Ted Gifford and Robert Gremley.

The other three finalists in alphabetical order are: Automatic Train Identification: Multidisciplinary Approach to Improve Safety and Efficiency (BNSF) presented by April Kuo and her team; Macy’s: A Model Driven Approach to Store Selling Space Optimization presented by Peri Georgiades; and Unleashing Analytics to Reduce Costs and Improve Quality in Wastewater Treatment (IBM Research, Haifa, Israel) presented by Alexander Zadorojniy.

Detailed descriptions of finalist applications will appear in a special issue of INTERFACES that will be published in 2019. Abstracts of finalist applications select here, and presentation videos from finalists are available here.