ANN ARBOR—Syngenta, which used analytics and operations research to improve food supplies to an increasingly crowded planet, has won the 2015 Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences. The award is sponsored by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®), the leading association for analytics professionals.

"Winning the Franz Edelman Award demonstrates the scientific excellence and leadership science is bringing to the farmer in the field,” said Joe Byrum, (MBA ‘09) and Syngenta Global Head Soybean R&D. “It's a level of leadership that has hasn't been demonstrated in agriculture until now. We're honored to win the Franz Edelman Award and thank the judges, our coaches - Arnie Greenland of the University of Maryland and John Birge of the University of Chicago - and to all on the INFORMS staff who helped make the event possible. It further demonstrates the impact our Good Growth Plan is having on the world, and we're proud to share that message with the masses."

The competition took place Monday night at the 2015 INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics & Operations Research, which was held at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort and Spa.

The Franz Edelman competition attests to the contributions of analytics and operations research (O.R.) in the profit and non-profit sectors. Since its inception in 1972, cumulative dollar benefits from Edelman finalist projects have reached nearly $225 billion.

With current breeding methodologies, the rate of increase in crop production is not sufficient to meet today’s food needs. Syngenta changed that by applying O.R. methods to make better breeding decisions, reducing the time and cost required to develop crops with high productivity. This data-based transformation helps Syngenta achieve its commitment to meeting the world’s growing food needs in an economically and environmentally sustainable way.

Each of four O.R. tools used by the prize winner supports one or more key “pipeline” phases: variety design, variety development, and variety evaluation.

Additional information about the INFORMS Franz Edelman Award and Competition can be found online at https://www.informs.org/About-INFORMS/News-Room/Press-Releases/2015-Edelman-Finalists.

Other resources:
Syngenta
The Good Growth Plan
NK Soybeans Seeds
Know More, Grow More
Franz Edelman Award
KROMIT