EURO Brochure What Is EURO?

EURO JUNE 2000 THE ASSOCIATION

OF EUROPEAN

OPERATIONAL RESEARCH Brochure SOCIETIES Edited by Alexis Tsoukias and Philippe Van Asbroeck ■ ■ ■

Table of contents ■ ■ ■

What is EURO? 1 What is IFORS? 1 What is Operational Research? 2 A Short History of EURO 3 The member societies of EURO 4 What is EURO doing? 4 Who does what in EURO? 5 The EURO Association 6 The EURO-k Conferences 9 The EURO Working Groups 12 The European Journal of 18 Operational Research (EJOR) The EURO Bulletin 18

THE EURO Summer and 19 Winter Institutes The Mini EURO Conferences 21 The EURO Gold Medal 23 Other EURO Instruments 23 Other Activities of EURO 24 Co-operation with Other Bodies 25

EURO Office ■ Université Libre de Bruxelles ■ Service de mathémati- ques de la gestion ■ Bld du Triomphe CP 210/01 ■ B-1050 Brussels ■ Belgium ■ Fax: +32 2 650 59 70 ■ E-mail: [email protected] ■ URL: http://www.ulb.ac.be/euro/euro_welcome.html

■ ■ ■ 1 EURO Brochure What is EURO?

EURO is The Association of European Operational consisting of representatives/alternates of all its Research Societies within IFORS (the International members and an Executive Committee which con- Federation of Operational Research Societies). It is stitutes its board of directors. Its aim is to promote a 'non profit' association domiciled in Fribourg, Operational Research throughout Europe. Switzerland. Its affairs are regulated by a Council

What is IFORS?

IFORS, the International Federation of Operational 3 year term, renewable 2 times, responsible for Research Societies is an umbrella organisation for handling all financial matters, and a Secretary who 45 national societies, involving about 30.000 indi- is responsible for all administrative and logistic vidual members, plus several kindred societies: matters and whose location corresponds to the headquarters of IFORS. AGIFORS, the Airline Group of IFORS, the Commit- tee on Operations Research Hungary, the Fellow- The Administrative Committee for the period ship for Operational Research, U.K., the Mathe- 1998-2000 is the following: matical Programming Society and the Resource ■ President Andres Weintraub, Chile Modeling Association. ■ Vice-President at large, Graham Rand, UK ■ Vice President, ALIO Celso Ribeiro, Brasil The national societies are grouped into four ■ Vice-President, APORS Moshe Sniedovich, regional groupings: EURO (Europe), ALIO (Latin Australia America), APORS (Asia Pacific region) and NORAM ■ Vice-President, EURO, Dominique de Werra, (North America). Switzerland ■ Vice-President, NORAM, Robert Abrams, US IFORS celebrated last year its 40th anniversary, ■ Treasurer Hugh Bradley, US with a celebration carried out in Beijing during the ■ Secretary Loretta Peregrina, Canada 15th Triennial IFORS Conference. ■ Past President Peter Bell, Canada

IFORS main objectives are to promote the devel- For the period 2001-2003 newly elected were opment of Operations Research worldwide, both Paolo Toth, from Italy, as President and Elise del in methodology and practice, and to link the dif- Rosario, from the Philipinnes, as Vice President at ferent member societies and regional groupings . large.

IFORS is run by the Representatives of each mem- Regional Vice Presidents will be chosen by their ber country, who decide on basic issues confronting respective regions by mid 2000. IFORS and its Administrative Committee, which is responsible for the execution of activities and making proposals to the Representatives. IFORS Activities To carry out its declared objectives, IFORS has The Administrative Committee is elected for periods developed a series of activities in different areas of of 3 years, and is composed of a President, a Vice interest to researchers, practitioners and teachers, President at large, four regional Vice Presidents, which are presented in the next articles. representing each region, a Treasurer, elected for a 2 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure IFORS publishes 2 journals: the Bulletin the IFORS member societies and OR people can publish everything that is going on in The International Abstacts in Operations Research their respective society. Such information reaches (IAOR), edited by David Smith, which has a long out to all their colleagues on other OR Societies, tradition in collecting information on what is pub- and to a great number of lone OR workers spread lished worldwide in the area of Operations Research all over the Globe. and the International Transactions in Operation Research (ITOR), edited by Peter Bell, which carries The present IFORS Secretary, Ms. Loretta Peregrina, methodological and applied articles with an is now the editor of the Bulletin. If you wish to important international outlook, with articles from have your information published in the Bulletin, very diverse countries, which reflect the IFORS please contact Loretta Pregrina - membership. [email protected].

The IFORS Bulletin was initiated by Prof. Heiner The OR For Developing Countries Newsletter is Müller-Merbach in 1976. The IFORS Secretary, intended for academics and practitioners in devel- then Helle R.Welling, took over the editorship in oping countries (DC), and those interested in aspects 1979 and the first issue saw the light in February relevant to them. It has been published with inter- of that year, and since then the Bulletin has been ruptions for about 10 years, by Roberto Galvao distributed to all member societies and to OR from Brasil and Nitin Patel from India. interested persons. Helle Welling was responsible The Newsletter is presently edited by Arabinda for the Newsletters for two decades and devel- Tripathy, and is being published regularly. It carries oped into a traditional and useful means of trans- information on specific activities related to DC, as mitting information on what is going on in the OR well as articles on this area. Readers, wishing to world, in particular to smaller societies. The Bulletin know more about the activities in the area of OR is a non-scientific publication. The Bulletin carries FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, may contact Elise information on IFORS and OR activities/initiatives A. del Rosario [email protected], Arabinda worldwide. But its main role is, probably, to estab- Tripathy [email protected], or IFORS Secre- lish a link among the various member societies. In tariat at [email protected].

What is Operational Research?

Though there is no "official definition" of Opera- Operational Research has been used intensively in tional Research ("Operations Research" in the US), business, industry and government. Many new it can be described as a scientific approach to the analytical methods have evolved, such as: mathe- solution of problems in the management of com- matical programming, simulation, game theory, plex systems. In a rapidly changing environment an queuing theory, network analysis, decision analy- understanding is sought which will facilitate the sis, multicriteria analysis, etc., which have power- choice and the implementation of more effective ful application to practical problems with the solutions which, typically, may involve complex appropriate logical structure. interactions among people, materials and money. Operational Research in practice is a team effort, requiring close co-operation among the decision- makers, the skilled OR analyst and the people who will be affected by the management action. ■ ■ ■ 3 EURO Brochure A Short History of EURO

Back in the sixties, the main activity of IFORS was Normally 9 months would have been totally insuf- the organisation of triennial international confer- ficient to prepare for an international conference ences addressing the world community of opera- addressing the entire OR community in Europe. tional researchers. The enthusiasm and involvement of all those who participated in the preparatory work compensated At that time, there was in Europe an increasing for lack of time. Thus the First European Confer- awareness of numerous ongoing OR activities on ence on Operational Research (EURO I), was one side and, on the other, rather weak means for opened on the morning of 27 January 1975 at the promoting communication and co-operation among Sheraton Hotel in Brussels. The meeting which European operational researchers. Some national managed to assemble no less than 506 partici- societies did (and do still) co-operate on an ad hoc pants was a remarkable success. Also the main basis but not to an extent to satisfy the general objective, to institutionalise closer co-operation need for "something" between IFORS and the among the European operational researchers, was national societies. fully achieved: nine European OR societies gave birth to EURO, The Association of European In conjunction with the 6th IFORS-Conference Operational Research Societies within IFORS, by (Dublin, 1972), the participating presidents of signing an agreement in which the signatories European OR societies discussed the situation and resolved: agreed to seek it improved. Invited by H.-J. ■ To grant to any fully paid-up member of any sig- Zimmermann, President of the German OR Society, natory body all rights and privileges which were representatives of eleven European OR societies offered by them to their own members. met in Düsseldorf on 3 September 1973 and ■ To exchange all appropriate information, inform decided to institutionalise better ways of co-oper- other signatories of existing working groups and ation within the framework of IFORS. the dates and locations of the meetings and open such working groups to individual members of In a more extensive meeting of representatives of other signatories. European OR societies, held in Amsterdam on 3-4 ■ To organise European Conferences on Opera- May 1974, two major decisions were made: tional Research and European Working Groups. ■ The representatives agreed that it would be ■ To encourage the formation of Operational advisable to formalise and institutionalise increased Research Societies in other European countries European co-operation. To this end a possible and to give such new bodies any possible help agreement between the European OR societies they might require. was drafted and it was the general consensus that such an agreement could be signed by the soci- On 8 March 1976, in a circular letter to all eties in the near future. European OR societies, the Honorary Secretary ■ It was furthermore agreed to assemble opera- could proudly announced: "I hereby declare that tional researchers from all European countries EURO, The Association of European Operational within the framework of the First European Research Societies within IFORS, is now formally Conference on Operational Research. constituted with effect from 5 March 1976 and the draft statutes circulated on 29 June 1975 are The Belgian OR Society accepted the invitation to effective". host this meeting and the OR societies of Denmark, Germany, United Kingdom, Norway, Considerable progress has been made since then, The Netherlands and Sweden agreed to finance as is evidenced by the subsequent pages of this the preparation by offering loans as a supplement brochure. However, there is a continuous need for to funds already raised for that purpose by the enthusiastic and dedicated people to enable EURO Belgian Society. IFORS also offered to provide a to maintain its present instruments and to carry loan if necessary. The meeting was scheduled for out a wider range of activities in support of its January 1975 in Brussels, Belgium. objectives. 4 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure The member societies of EURO

The members of EURO are normally full members Iceland of IFORS and comprise the national OR societies of Ireland countries located within or nearby Europe. Each Israel member is represented in the EURO Council by a Italy representative and an alternate, one of whom Norway votes, if required. Council meetings are held annu- Poland ally, normally in conjunction with the EURO-k Portugal conferences. Slovak Republic South Africa EURO has presently 28 members: Spain Austria Sweden Belgium Switzerland Bulgaria The Netherlands Belarus Turkey Croatia United Kingdom Czech Republic Yugoslavia Denmark Finland The member societies of EURO represent in total France well above 10.000 individual members. Since Israel Germany and South Africa have joined The Association, the Greece term "Europe" is to be understood in a "broad" Hungary sense.

What is EURO doing?

The activities of EURO are organised along several The following instruments were introduced in "instruments" that are all designed to promote OR 1994: in Europe. The following instruments were launched ■ the EURO Fellowships, in 1975: ■ the Eastern European Conference Initiative, ■ the EURO Association itself ■ General Support funds. ■ the EURO-k Conferences ■ the EURO Working Groups This Brochure describes what has been done so far ■ the EURO Bulletin and using these instruments. ■ the European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR)

Three additional instruments were introduced in 1983: ■ the EURO Summer Institutes ■ the MINI-EURO Conferences ■ the EURO Gold Medals ■ ■ ■ 5 EURO Brochure Who does what in EURO?

The EURO Council elects a President, a President- The Executive Committee presently consists of the Elect, two Vice-Presidents, a Secretary and a Trea- following members: surer. These six EURO officers form the Executive Committee. The President-Elect serves for only one President year whereas all others are elected for two years. Prof. Dr. Christoph SCHNEEWEISS No officer can stay in the Executive Committee for Address: Lehrstuhl fur Unternehmensplanung, more than four consecutive years. insbesondere OR, Universitat Mannheim, Postfach 10 34 62, The President has responsibility for all activities of D-68131 Mannheim, Germany EURO. He/she is assisted in his/her task by the Tel.: +49 621 181 1655 Immediate Past President and the President Elect. Fax: +49 621 181 1653 E-mail: [email protected] The Vice-President 1 assists the President and supports him/her in the development of new activi- President Elect ties. He/she has particular responsibility for: Prof. Philippe VINCKE ■ the organisation of EURO-k Conferences, Address: Universite Libre de Bruxelles, ■ the organisation of EURO Summer and Winter C.P.210/01, Boulevard du Triomphe, Institutes and 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium ■ the Education and Training programmes in OR. Tel.: +32 2 650 5889 Fax: +32 2 650 5970 The Vice-President 2 assists the President and sup- E-mail: [email protected] ports him/her in the development of new activi- URL: http://smg.ulb.ac.be/personal/PVincke.html ties. He/she has particular responsibility for: ■ the organisation of EURO Working Groups Vice President 1 ■ the organisation of Mini EURO Conferences Prof. Zilla SINUANY-STERN The Secretary ensures the administrative function- Address: Department of Industrial Engineering ing of the association, of the Council and the and Management, Ben-Gurion University, Executive Committee. He/she deals with request to Beer-sheva,84105, Israel EURO from outside. He/she is responsible for the Tel.: +972 7 6472 223 General Support funds. He/she is assisted by the Fax: +972 7 6472 958 Permanent Secretariat. E-mail: [email protected]

The tasks of the Treasurer are obvious (but cru- Vice President 2 cial!). Prof. Raymond BISDORFF Centre de Recherche Public - Gabriel Lippmann The Executive Committee is responsible to the Cellule "Statistics & Decision" STADE EURO Council. It is assisted by the EURO vice-pres- 162a, avenue de la Faïencerie ident of IFORS who is responsible of the links L - 1511 Luxembourg between EURO and IFORS and by a permanent Tel.: + 352 47 02 61 852 secretariat. Fax: + 352 47 02 61 389 E-mail: [email protected] 6 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure Secretary The Executive Committee is assisted by: Prof. Alexis TSOUKIAS Address: LAMSADE-CNRS, EURO Vice President of IFORS Université Paris Dauphine, Dominique de Werra 75775 Paris Cedex 16, France Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Tel.: +33(0)144054401 Dépt. de Mathématiques Fax: +33(0)144054091 CH-1015 Lausanne E-mail: [email protected] Switzerland URL: http://www.lamsade.dauphine.fr/~tsoukias Tel.: +41 21 693 2562 Fax: +41 21 693 4250 Treasurer E-mail: [email protected] Dr. Philippe SOLOT Address: AICOS Technologies AG, Permanent Secretariat Efringerstrasse 32, CH-4057 Basel, Philippe van Asbroeck Switzerland Université Libre de Bruxelles Tel.: +41 61 686 98 76 SMG / EURO CP210/01 Fax: +41 61 686 98 88 Boulevard du Triomphe E-mail: [email protected] B-1050 Brussels, Belgium URL: http://www.aicos.com Fax: +32 2 650 5970 E-mail: [email protected] URL: http://www.ulb.ac.be/euro/euro_welcome.html

Past Presidents H. Zimmermann, B. Rapp, R. Tomlinson, J. Brans, B. Roy, D. De Werra, J. Krarup, J. Spronk, M.F. Shutler, P. Toth, J. Weglarz

The EURO Association

EURO is a 'non profit' association domiciled in The Council elects a President, a President-Elect, Fribourg, Switzerland. Its affairs are regulated by a two Vice-Presidents, a Secretary, and a Treasurer. Council consisting of representatives/alternates of These six EURO officers form the Executive all its members and an Executive Committee which Committee. The President-Elect serves for only one constitutes its board of directors. year whereas all others are elected for two years. Since 1993 the Executive Committee is assisted by The members of EURO are normally full members a Permanent Secretariat. of IFORS and comprise the national OR societies of countries located within or nearby (in a broad The previous members of the Executive Committee sense) Europe. Each member is represented in the are indicated hereafter (it is understood that the EURO Council by a representative and an alter- immediate Past-President attends the Executive nate, one of whom votes, if required. Council Committee for one year). Without their benevo- meetings are held annually, normally in conjunc- lent active involvement in EURO, the Association tion with the EURO-k conferences. could not have survived. ■ ■ ■ 7 EURO Brochure Officers Date: 1982 President: R. Tomlinson (UK) Date: 1975 Vice-President: J. Krarup (DK) President: H.J. Zimmermann (D) President Elect: J.P. Brans (B) Vice-President: G. Kreweras (F) Secretary: E. Jaquet-Lagrèze (F) Secretary: R. T. Eddison (UK) Treasurer: J.P. Brans (B) Treasurer: J.P. Brans (B) Date: 1983 Date: 1976 President: J.P. Brans (B) President: H.J. Zimmermann (D) Vice-President: J. Krarup (DK) Vice-President: G. Kreweras (F) Past President: R.Tomlinson (UK) Secretary: R. T. Eddison (UK) Secretary: D. Xerocostas (GR) Treasurer: J.P. Brans (B) Treasurer: J. Pasquier (CH)

Date: 1977 Date: 1984 President: H.J. Zimmermann (D) President: J.P. Brans (B) Vice-President: G. Kreweras (F) Vice-President: J. Krarup (DK) Secretary: R. T. Eddison (UK) President Elect: B. Roy (F) Treasurer: J.P. Brans (B) Secretary: D. Xerocostas (GR) Treasurer: J. Pasquier (CH) Date: 1978 President: H.J. Zimmermann (D) Date: 1985 Vice-President: G. Kreweras (F) President: B. Roy (F) Secretary: R. T. Eddison (UK) Vice-President: C. Schneeweiss (D) Treasurer: J.P. Brans (B) Past President: J.P. Brans (B) Secretary: D. Xerocostas (GR) Date: 1979 Treasurer: E. A. Field (UK) President: B. Rapp (S) Vice-President: G. Kreweras (F) Date: 1986 Past President: H.J. Zimmermann (D) President: B. Roy (F) Secretary: R. T. Eddison (UK) Vice-President: C. Schneeweiss (D) Treasurer: J.P. Brans (B) President Elect: D. de Werra (CH) Secretary: D. Xerocostas (GR) Date: 1980 Treasurer: E. A. Field (UK) President: B. Rapp (S) Vice-President: G. Kreweras (F) Date: 1987 President Elect: R. Tomlinson (UK) President: D. de Werra (CH) Secretary: R. T. Eddison (UK) Vice-President: C. Schneeweiss (D) Treasurer: J.P. Brans (B) Past President: B. Roy (F) Secretary: P. Toth (I) Date: 1981 Treasurer: E. A. Field (UK) President: R. Tomlinson (UK) Vice-President: J. Krarup (DK) Date: 1988 Past President: B.Rapp (S) President: D. de Werra (CH) Secretary: E. Jaquet-Lagrèze (F) Vice-President: C. Schneeweiss (D) Treasurer: J.P. Brans (B) President Elect: J. Krarup (DK) Secretary: P. Toth (I) Treasurer: E. A. Field (UK) 8 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure Date: 1989 Treasurer: M. Widmer (CH) President: J. Krarup (DK) Vice-President 1: C. Pappis (GR) Vice-President: I. Themido (P) Vice-President 2: T. Kinnunen (FI) Past President: D. de Werra (CH) Permanent Secretariat: Ph. Van Asbroeck (B) Secretary: P. Toth (I) Treasurer: E. A. Field (UK) Date: 1996 President: P. Toth (I) Date: 1990 President Elect: J. Weglarz (PL) President: J. Krarup (DK) Secretary: D. Bouyssou (F) Vice-President: I. Themido (P) Treasurer: M. Widmer (CH) President Elect: J. Spronk (NL) Vice-President 1: V. Belton (UK) Secretary: P. Toth (I) Vice-President 2: T. Kinnunen (FI) Treasurer: E. A. Field (UK) Permanent Secretariat: Ph. Van Asbroeck (B)

Date: 1991 Date: 1997 President: J. Spronk (NL) President: J. Weglarz (PL) Vice-President: I. Themido (P) Past President: P. Toth (I) Past President: J. Krarup (DK) Secretary: D. Bouyssou (F) Secretary: C. Roucairol (F) Treasurer: M. Widmer (CH) Treasurer: J. Bovet (CH) Vice-President 1: V. Belton (UK) Vice-President 2: T. Kinnunen (FI) Date: 1992 Permanent Secretariat: Ph. Van Asbroeck (B) President: J. Spronk (NL) Vice-President: I. Themido (P) Date: 1998 President Elect: M. F. Shutler (UK) President: J. Weglarz (PL) Secretary: C. Roucairol (F) President Elect: Ch. Schneeweiss (D) Treasurer: J. Bovet (CH) Secretary: D. Bouyssou (F) Treasurer: M. Widmer (CH) Date: 1993 Vice-President 1: V. Belton (UK) President: M. F. Shutler (UK) Vice-President 2: R. Bisdorff (L) Past President: J.Spronk (NL) Permanent Secretariat: Ph. Van Asbroeck (B) Secretary: C. Roucairol (F) Treasurer: J. Bovet (CH) Date: 1999 Vice-President 1: C. Pappis (GR) President: Ch. Schneeweiss (D) Vice-President 2: T. Kinnunen (FI) Past President: J. Weglarz (PL) Permanent Secretariat: Ph. Van Asbroeck (B) Secretary: A. Tsoukias (F) Treasurer: Ph. Solot (CH) Date: 1994 Vice-President 1: V. Belton (UK) President: M. F. Shutler (UK) Vice-President 2: R. Bisdorff (L) President Elect: P. Toth (I) Permanent Secretariat: Ph. Van Asbroeck (B) Secretary: C. Roucairol (F) Treasurer: J. Bovet (CH) Date: 2000 Vice-President 1: C. Pappis (GR) President: Ch. Schneeweiss (D) Vice-President 2: T. Kinnunen (FI) President Elect: Ph. Vincke (B) Permanent Secretariat: Ph. Van Asbroeck (B) Secretary: A. Tsoukias (F) Treasurer: Ph. Solot (CH) Date: 1995 Vice-President 1: Z. Sinuany-Stern (IL) President: P. Toth (I) Vice-President 2: R. Bisdorff (L) Past President: M. Shutler (UK) Permanent Secretariat: Ph. Van Asbroeck (B) Secretary: D. Bouyssou (F) ■ ■ ■ 9 EURO Brochure The EURO-k Conferences

The EURO-k Conferences are broadly oriented and EURO k conferences have so far attracted an average of 600 participants. They are intended to be forums for com- Year: 1975 munication and co-operation among European Name: EURO I operational researchers. They are also intended to Date: Jan 1975 be international meetings of operational researchers Location: Brussels who are active in the various areas of OR and to Country: Belgium serve the free exchange of ideas and results. Number of delegates: 506 Number of papers: 115 National OR societies which are full members of Chair of PC: H.J. Zimmermann (D) EURO are regularly invited to submit proposals to Chair of OC: J.P. Brans (B) host future EURO-k Conferences. Guidelines for the organisation of such events can be obtained Year: 1976 from the Secretary or the Vice President 1. Bids for Name: EURO II hosting a EURO-k Conference in a specific year Date: April 1976 should be made at least two years before the date Location: Stockholm of the meeting. The decision is made by the EURO Country: Sweden Council. As part of the selection process, EURO Number of delegates: 481 attempts to balance the location of successive Number of papers: 171 conferences in terms of geography (so that no Chair of PC: M. Roubens (B) specific part of Europe is ignored) and between Chair of OC: S.E. Andersson (S) large and small societies.

Year: 1978 In making decisions, EURO also takes notice of other major international meetings having to some Name: IFORS 8 extent the same purpose as the EURO-k Confer- Location: Toronto ences. More specifically, no EURO-k Conference is Country: Canada held in a year of an IFORS triennial conference. Year: 1979 EURO-k Conferences can be organised in co-oper- Name: EURO III ation with other associations such as INFORMS. In Date: April 1979 each such case, a special agreement between Location: Amsterdam EURO and the guest association must be prepared. Country: The Netherlands Number of delegates: 508 The following table lists the past EURO-k Confer- Number of papers: 276 ences. The forthcoming EURO XVII Conference is Chair of PC: J. Krarup (DK) scheduled in Budapest, Hungary in July 2000, Chair of OC: C.B. Tilanus (NL) while EURO XVIII is scheduled in the Netherlands, in July 2001. In July 2002 the IFORS triennial con- Year: 1980 ference will take place in Edinburgh (UK). Name: EURO IV Date: July 1980 Location: Cambridge Country: England Number of delegates: 610 Number of papers: 340 Chair of PC: J.P. Brans (B) Chair of OC: M. Shutler (GB) 10 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure Year: 1981 Year: 1987 Name: IFORS 9 Name: IFORS 11 Location: Hamburg Location: Buenos Aires Country: Germany Country: Argentina

Year: 1982 Year: 1988 Name: EURO V/TIMS XXV Name: EURO IX/TIMS XXVIII Date: July 1982 Date: July 1988 Location: Lausanne Location: Paris Country: Switzerland Country: France Number of delegates: 598 Number of delegates: 1176 Number of papers: 267 Number of papers: 925 Chair of PC: B. Haley (GB) Chair of PC: Ph. Vincke (B) Chair of OC: D.de Werra (CH) Chair of OC: P. Tolla (F)

Year: 1983 Year: 1989 Name: EURO VI Name: EURO X Date: July 1983 Date: June 1989 Location: Vienna Location: Belgrade Country: Austria Country: Yugoslavia Number of delegates: 488 Number of delegates: 295 Number of papers: 288 Number of papers: N/A Chair of PC: C. Carlsson (SF) Chair of PC: R.E. Burkard (A) Chair of OC: P. Harhammer (A) Chair of OC: V. Batanovic (YU)

Year: 1984 Year: 1990 Name: IFORS 10 Name: IFORS 12 Location: Washington DC Location: Athens Country: USA Country: Greece

Year: 1985 Year: 1991 Name: EURO VII Name: EURO XI Date: June 1985 Date: July 1991 Location: Bologna Location: Aachen Country: Italy Country: Germany Number of delegates: 550 Number of delegates: 743 Number of papers: 417 Number of papers: N/A Chair of PC: E. Jacquet-Lagrèze (F) Chair of PC: J. Kohlas (CH) Chair of OC: P. Toth (I) Chair of OC: H.J. Zimmermann (D)

Year: 1986 Year: 1992 Name: EURO VIII Name: EURO XII/TIMS XXXI Date: Sep 1986 Date: June 1992 Location: Lisbon Location: Helsinki Country: Portugal Country: Finland Number of delegates: 496 Number of delegates: 1206 Number of papers: 352 Number of papers: 935 Chair of PC: R. Tomlinson (GB) Chair of PC: F. Maffioli (I) Chair of OC: I. Themido (P) Chair of OC: C. Carlsson (SF) ■ ■ ■ 11 EURO Brochure Year: 1993 Year: 1997 Name: IFORS 13 Name: EURO XV - INFORMS XXXIV Location: Lisbon Date: July 1997 Country: Portugal Location: Barcelona Country: Spain Year: 1994 Number of delegates: 1048 Name: EURO XIII/OR 36 Number of papers: 962 Date: July 1994 Chair of PC: J. Barcelo (SP) Location: Glasgow Chair of OC: L. Valaderes Tavares (P) Country: Scotland Number of delegates: 745 Year: 1998 Number of papers: 596 Name: EURO XVI Chair of PC: D. Bouyssou (F) Date: July 1998 Chair of OC: V. Belton (GB) Location: Brussels Country: Belgium Year: 1995 Number of delegates: 760 Name: EURO XIV Number of papers: 680 Date: July 1995 Chair of PC: B. Matarazzo (I) Location: Jerusalem Chair of OC: J. Teghem (B) Country: Israel Number of delegates: 642 Year: 1999 Number of papers: 620 Name: IFORS 15 Chair of PC: R. Slowinski (PL) Location: Beijing Chair of OC: Z. Sinuany-Stern (IL) Country: China

Year: 1996 Name: IFORS 14 Location: Vancouver Country: Canada 12 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure The EURO Working Groups a contact forum for OR researchers

The European OR research community, regrouped The 10th Mini-EURO conference on "Human as national OR societies under the EURO label, has Centered Processes" which took place in Brest a long tradition in organising European working (France) on September 22-24, 1999 has given groups on practically all topics relevant in the OR birth to a new EURO Working Group with the field. By looking twenty-five years back now, we same name. may notice that the very first EURO Working Groups: Multicriteria Aid for Decision (MCDA), OR applied to Health Services and EUROBANKING still Why Not Join a EURO Working remain active and have contributed during their Group? lifetime to major developments of the respective For the members of the groups the EURO frame- scientific fields. Both groups held recently their work is providing a chance to meet regularly (at 25th anniversary meetings. least annually) people who are interested in the same OR topic in order to exchange ideas, experi- The EURO actually hosts 20 groups. These facts ences and research results and an opportunity to reveal that the original initiative to install such an find a counterpart abroad to do research together. organisational framework in the context of EURO The efforts of co-ordinators and meeting organis- has proven to be a successful one. The major rea- ers to build an open and friendly atmosphere in sons of the success are being found on the one the meetings bear fruit; co-operation in the groups hand in the presence of the EURO Working Group is smooth and the personal relations of the group co-ordinators. By their personal effort to motivate members can be described best with the word and organise the activities of their respective friendship. While the EWGs organise sessions in groups, they contribute in an essential way either conferences, publish special issues of the European to the organisation of special sessions in confer- Journal of Operational Research or other OR-relat- ences and/or to the publication of OR relevant ed journals and organise conferences, the co-oper- papers in special issues of the European Journal of ation in the EWGs means better and bureaucrati- Operational Research or other OR-related journals. cally easier chances for the group members to On the other hand, individual members of an make public the results of their work. EURO WG may find an opportunity to meet on a regular (at least annually) and somehow informal For the groups the fact of being a EURO Working basis apart from the traditional conferences and Group means organisational and financial support their necessary short communications. During these of EURO. Firms can find an ideal partner from EWGs meetings, they may exchange with people inter- when they wish to co-operate with researchers ested in a same OR topic, ideas, experiences and from universities or other research establishments. ongoing research results before actual publication. With these partners firms can form a research pro- Fruitful European research partnership so emerged. ject for which additional funds could be obtained e.g. from the European Union under its research Some EWGs contribute actively to a Mini-EURO programs. (Members planning such a project and Conference as it was the case with the 11th Mini- support are advised to contact the secretariat of EURO Conference on "Artificial Intelligence in EURO.) Transportation Systems and Science" hosting con- jointly the 7th Meeting of the EURO Working For EURO the EWGs mean continuity in research Group on Transportation. This conference is organ- and in contacts to the field of research. The EWGs ised by the department of Transportation Engi- are a very important part of EURO and the work of neering, Helsinki University of Technology, in the co-ordinators and the members of the groups Espoo, Finland, August 2-6, 1999. is very well respected and appreciated. ■ ■ ■ 13 EURO Brochure If you want to get more information about a EURO A new group, HCP, Human Centered Processes Working Group or to join one, contact either the (2000), will be starting its activity at the occasion co-ordinator of the group or the second vice-pres- of the EURO’2000 Conference in Budapest. ident of EURO. EWGs in fact constitute a cross- national organisation of OR researchers within Detailed information on all EURO Working Groups Europe (and not only) complementary to the can be found on the following pages and on the National OR societies members of EURO. Internet address: (http://www.ulb.ac.be/euro/euro_ working_groups.html). The ACTIVE EWGs At the moment, EURO has 20 active Working How to create a EURO Working Groups (in the order of establishment, with the Group? year in brackets): If a group of researchers and/or practitioners can- 1. MCAD, Multicriteria aid for decisions ....(1975) not find an established EURO working group with 2. EUROFUSE, Fuzzy sets ...... (1975) the OR-topic that interests them, it is possible to apply from the EURO Executive Committee for the 3. ORAHS, OR applied to health services...(1975) EURO Working Group status. There are certain 4. EUROBANKING, Special interest group requirements that such a group has to meet: in banking ...... (1975) 1. The EWGs should as far as possible bring

5. EWGLA, Locational analysis ...... (1984) together people with different professional back- grounds mixing of possible research, education 6. ESIGMA, Special interest group on and OR practice. multicriteria analysis ...... (1985) 2. The group should have ideally have an European 7. Project management and scheduling .....(1986) membership. This requirement is met if at least 4, but possibly 5 or 6 European countries are repre- 8. Financial modelling ...... (1986) sented at each meeting and if the meetings do not 9. ECCO, European Chapter on combinatorial take place too often in the same country. optimisation ...... (1987) 3. Any group should be open to any individual 10. DSS, Decision Support Systems...... (1989) member of any EURO member society. In some exceptional case also persons that are not mem- 11. Transportation...... (1991) bers of a national OR society can be accepted. 12. Group decision and negotiation support...... (1995) Becoming a EURO Working Group brings duties 13. MODEST, Modelling of economies and and advantages to the group. One of the duties is societies in transition ...... (1995) that the co-ordinators of the EWGs have to report yearly on their activities to EURO. One of the 14. WATT, Working group on automated advantages is that the group obtains organisation- time tabling ...... (1996) al support from EURO. EURO K conferences pro- 15. Environmental planning ...... (1996) vide time and space for the meetings of the EWGs 16. PAREO, Parallel processing in operation and the meetings can be set within the framework of the conference itself. Nowadays several EWGs research ...... (1997) organise their meetings on the day(s) before an 17. DEAPM, Data envelopment analysis EURO K conference starts, or on the day after it and performance measurement ...... (1997) finishes. EURO also supports EWGs by offering an 18. DDM, Distributed Decision Making)...... (1997) opportunity to use the EURO Bulletin as the (formerly, HOP, Hierarchical organisational group's newsletter. Another advantage is that an planning) EWG obtains financial support from EURO. Financial support can be granted e.g. for printing 19. Methodology on Societal Complex costs of common stationery, for administrative Problems...... (1998) costs in the establishment of a new EWG and 20. COWG, Continuous Optimisation Working occasionally for meeting expenses, such as those Group...... (1999) of guest speakers or for some specific colloquium 14 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure or seminar. More details on the organisation and and activities of EWGs are stated in the charter of the Prof. Dr. Janos FODOR EURO Working Groups; see Internet: http://www. Szent Istvan University ulb.ac.be/euro/euro_brochure.html. Faculty of Veterinary Science Dept. of Biomathematics and Informatics More information about Working Groups can be Istvan u. 2, H-1078 Budapest, Hungary obtained from EURO. The EURO-officer in charge Tel.: +36-1-478.42.13 of Working Groups is the second vice-president: Fax: +36-1-478.42.17 Prof. Raymond BISDORFF, E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected] Centre de Recherche Public - Gabriel Lippmann, URL: http://www2.univet.hu/~jfodor Cellule "Statistics & Decision" STADE, Web site 162a, avenue de la Faïencerie, http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~bdebaets/eurofuse.html L - 1511 Luxembourg Tel.: + 352 47 02 61 852 Fax: + 352 47 02 61 389 ORAHS, OR Applied to Health E-mail: [email protected] Services Co-ordinator MCAD, Multicriteria aid for Dr. Jan Vissers, decisions Faculty of Technology Management, Eindhoven University of Technology, Co-ordinator PO Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands Prof. Bernard Roy, LAMSADE, Tel.: +31 402473937 Université Paris-Dauphine, Fax: +31 402464596 Place du Maréchal De Lattre de Tassigny, E-mail: [email protected] F-75775 Paris Cédex 16, France Tel.: (33) (0) 1 44 05 42 88 Secretary Fax: (33) (0) 1 44 05 40 91 Dr. Sally Brailsford, School of Management, E-mail: [email protected] University of Southampton, Southampton, SO17 1BJ, UK Web site Tel/Fax: +44 1703593567 http://www.inescc.pt/~ewgmcda E-mail: [email protected] Web site EUROFUSE, Working Group on http://www.soton.ac.uk/~orahsweb Fuzzy sets Co-ordinators EUROFUSE has two coordinators, expressing the EUROBANKING, special interest desire to have a representation from both Western group in banking and Eastern Europe. Either one of them can be Co-ordinator contacted concerning membership, proposals for Dr. Antti Korhonen, activities, etc. Toppelundintie 6 as. 1, FIN-02170 Espoo, Finland Prof. Dr. Bernard DE BAETS Tel.: +358 9 452 3939 Ghent University Mobile: +358 50 548 1050 Dept. of Applied Mathematics, Fax: +358 9 452 3944 Biometrics and Process Control E-mail: [email protected] Coupure Links 653, B-9000 Gent, Belgium Web site Tel.: +32-9-264.59.41 http://www.clubi.ie/eurobank/ Fax: +32-9-223.49.41 E-mail: [email protected] Web site http://allserv.rug.ac.be/~bdebaets ■ ■ ■ 15 EURO Brochure EWGLA, Locational analysis ECCO, European Chapter on Co-ordinator Combinatorial Optimisation Frank PLASTRIA, BEIF (Department of Co-ordinator Management Informatics), Prof. Silvano Martello, DEIS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, University of Bologna, Viale Risorgimento 2, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium I-40136 Bologna, Italy Tel.: +32 2 6293609 (Office) Tel.: +39 051 644 30 22 Tel.: +32 2 6293607 (Secretary) Fax: +39 051 644 30 73 Fax: +32 2 6293690 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] Web site Web site http://www.prism.uvsq.fr/~vdc/ECCO/ECCO.html http://www.vub.ac.be/EWGLA

Transportation ESIGMA, Special interest group Co-ordinator on multicriteria analysis Dr. Maurizio Bielli, Co-ordinator Special Project on Transportation, Prof. Theodor Stewart, National Research Council, University of Cape Town, Viale Dell' Università 11, 00185 Rome, Italy Department of Statistical Sciences, Tel.: +39 06 4457125 Rondebosch 7701, South Africa Fax: +39 06 4457186 Tel.: +27 21 650 3224 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: +27 21 689 7578 E-mail: [email protected] Group Decision and Negotiation Support Project Management and Co-ordinator Scheduling Dr Fran Ackermann, Co-ordinator Department of Management Science, Professor Luís Valadares Tavares, CESUR-IST, University of Strathclyde, 40 George Street, Avda Rovisco Pais, P-1096 Lisbon, Portugal Glasgow G1 1QE, Scotland Tel.: (351) (1) 8409705 or (351) (1) 8409580 Tel.: +44 141 548 3610 Fax: (351) (1) 8409884 Fax: +44 141 552 6686 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected]

Financial modelling MODEST, Modelling of economies Co-ordinator and societies in transition Prof. Dr. Jaap Spronk, Co-ordinators Erasmus University Rotterdam, Prof. Zbigniew Nahorski and Department of Finance, P.O. Box 1738, Prof. Jan W. Owsinski, NL-3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands c/o Systems Research Institute, Tel.: (31) (10) 4081282 Polish Academy of Sciences, Fax: (31) (10) 4089165 Newelska 6, 01-447 Warszawa, Poland E-mail: [email protected] Tel.: (48) (22) 364103 Fax: (48) (22) 372772 E-mail: [email protected] E-mail: [email protected] 16 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure WATT, Working group on Contact address automated time tabling For further information, questions, and remarks please contact: Co-ordinators Bertrand Le Cun, Laboratoire PRiSM - Dr Edmund Burke, CNRS UMR 86 36, Université de Versailles-Saint University of Nottingham, Department of Quentin en Yvelines, 45 Avenue des Etats-Unis, Computer Science - Automated Scheduling 78035 Versailles Cedex, France and Planning, University Park, Nottingham, Tel.: +33 - 1 - 39 25 40 50 NG7 2RD, United Kingdom Fax: +33 - 1 - 39 25 40 57 Tel.: (44) (115) 9514206 E-mail: [email protected] Fax: (44) (115) 9514254 E-mail: [email protected] Web site http://www.prism.uvsq.fr/~blec/PAREO/ Prof Jan A.M. Schreuder, University of Twente, Postbus 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands Tel.: (31) (53) 4893463 DEAPM, Data envelopment Fax: (31) (53) 4892255 analysis and performance E-mail: [email protected]. measurement Web site Co-ordinators http://www.sasp.cs.nott.ac.uk/ASAP/watt/ Prof Joro, T. Faculty of Business, 3-40F Business Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2R6 Environmental planning Tel.: +1-780-492-5922 Co-ordinator Fax: +1-780-492-3325 Professor Costas Pappis, E-mail: [email protected] University of Piraeus, Dept. of Industrial Management, 80 Karaoli & Dimitriou Str., Ms Allen, K., 18534 Piraeus, Greece Lehrstuhl fuer Unternehmenstheorie, insb. Tel.: +(301) 4142150 Umweltoekonomie und industrielles Controlling, Fax: +(301) 4142328 RWTH Aachen, Templergraben 64, E-mail: [email protected] D - 52056 Aachen, Germany Tel.: ++49/241/80-6210 Fax: ++49/241/8888-179 PAREO, Parallel processing in E-mail: [email protected] operation research Web site Co-ordination Board http://www.wbs.warwick.ac.uk/dea/pm/ Catherine Roucairol (PRiSM, University of Versailles, Versailles, France) Theodor Crainic DDM Distributed Decision Making (CRT, University of Montréal, Montréal, Canada) (formerly HOP, Hierarchical Jonathan Eckstein (Rutgers University, New Brunswick, U.S.A.) organisational planning) Gerard Kindervater Co-ordinators (Erasmus University, Rotterdam, The Netherlands) Prof. Dr. Christoph Schneeweiss, Bertrand Le cun Chair of Operations Research, (PRiSM, University of Versailles, Versailles, France) University of Mannheim, P.O.Box 10 34 62, Celso Ribeiro D-68131-Mannheim, Germany (PUC do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) Tel.: ++49/621-292-5413 Fax: ++49/621/292-1270 E-mail: [email protected] ■ ■ ■ 17 EURO Brochure Prof. Dr. Rudolf Vetschera, Management Center, University of Vienna, Bruenner Str. 72, A-1210 Vienna, Austria Tel.: ++43/1-4277-38171 Fax: ++43/1-4277-38174 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.bwl.univie.ac.at/bwl/org/Mitarbeiter/ Vetschera/Vetscherad.html Web site http://www.bwl.uni-mannheim.de/Schneeweiss/ hop/hop.html

Euro Working Group Methodology for Analyzing Complex Societal Problems Co-ordinator Dr. Dorien J. DeTombe, Scool of Systems Engineering, University of Technology, P.O. Box 5015, Jaffalaan 5, NL- 2600 GA, DELFT, The Netherlands Tel.: +31 15 2 78 69 49 Fax: +31 15 2 78 34 29

COWG Euro Working group on Continuous Optimization Co-ordinator Terlaky Tamás, Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Tel.: +1-905-525-9140 (Ext: 27780) Fax: +1-905-524-3040 E-mail: [email protected] 18 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure The European Journal of Operational Research (EJOR)

At the first Council Meeting held on 30 January enced a remarkable growth. Two volumes were 1975, a European Journal of Operational Research published in 1980 in 12 monthly issues; eight vol- (EJOR) was proposed. A committee (G. Kreweras, umes totalling over 5300 pages were published in B. Roy, C.B. Tilanus, and H.-J. Zimmermann) was 1999, thus making EJOR the largest OR journal formed to investigate the desirability of such a worldwide. venture. Following their recommendations, the Most issues since 1981 are led by an Invited Review. Council decided on 8 May 1975 that EJOR should Thus, by mid-2000, over 270 invited reviews cov- be launched. All member societies were requested ering a wide range of topics of interest of opera- to nominate candidates for the editorial board. tional researchers had been published. In addition The publisher was North-Holland, which then to the invited reviews and regular papers, EJOR changed to Elsevier Science Publishers, and the includes book reviews. first editors were Alan Mercer, Bernhard Tilanus and Hans-Jurgen Zimmermann. After 20 years of Over the years, about 120 feature issues of EJOR very successful growth of the journal, these editors have appeared. Guest-edited feature issues have have resigned and were replaced since 1st January been generated by several EURO instruments, 1999 by Roman Slowinski, Jacques Teghem and notably the EURO-k conferences, the Mini EURO Jyrki Wallenius. The EURO Bulletin vol. 8, no. 4, conferences, the EURO Summer Institutes and the 1999 is devoted to the present editorial policy of EURO Working Groups. EJOR. The journal is also present on the Web at: www.elsevier.nl/locate/dsw. Until 1990, the surplus made at the EURO-k conferences was EURO's sole source of income. Due to The first volume of EJOR appeared in 1977. It con- an agreement with Elsevier, EURO has since received sisted of six issues published bimonthly and royalties from Elsevier that provide a substantial totalling 420 pages. EJOR has ever since experi- fund for financing the many EURO instruments.

The EURO Bulletin

In order to improve communication between oper- A new format was introduced in the second half ational researchers in Europe, it was decided in of 1991, under the editorship of Ph. Van Asbroeck, 1975 at EURO I to publish a newsletter: the EURO 108 avenue Sleeckx, B-1030 Brussels, Belgium Bulletin. This Bulletin not only gives relevant infor- (fax: 32 2 650 59 70, e-mail: [email protected]), mation about current EURO activities but also allowing a quicker circulation of information and a includes announcements of other conferences, larger diffusion. meetings etc. of interest to its readers. A hardcopy version of the EURO Bulletin is now The first five issues were edited by J.P. Brans as a distributed four times a year through the national OR leaflet sent to more than 10.000 members of the societies. An electronic version in PDF format is also national OR societies in Europe. Throughout the made available on WWW at the following address: period 1976-1991, the EURO Bulletin appeared as http://www.ulb.ac.be/euro/euro_welcome.html an appendix to EJOR. Former editors of the Bulletin were: 1975-1980: J.P. Brans (B), 1980-1985: S. Kruse Jacobsen (DK), 1986-1990: M. Despontin (B). ■ ■ ■ 19 EURO Brochure The EURO Summer and Winter Institutes

The series of EURO Summer and Winter Institutes The list of ESWI follows. (ESWIs) was launched in 1984 at the initiative of J.P. Brans. Scarcely any other EURO instrument has Year: 1984 had such impact upon future generations of OR Name: ESI I people. Each ESWI, organised by a national soci- Date: July 1984 ety, focuses upon a particular subject. The basic Location: Brussels idea is that around 20 young (approximately Country: Belgium between 25 and 35 years of age) researchers all Theme: Location Theory having an unpublished paper within the theme Organiser(s): J.P. Brans (B) announced, can meet for about two weeks, present their material, discuss it with others and with Year: 1985 a handful of specially invited senior experts in the Name: ESI II field, and finally prepare a paper to be considered Date: July 1985 for inclusion in a feature issue of EJOR. ESWIs may Location: Brussels be approved in any two years. Country: Belgium Theme: Multicriteria Analysis Disregarding the senior experts, no one else can Organiser(s): J.P. Brans (B) participate more than once in his or her lifetime. Participation in an ESWI should be regarded as a Year: 1986 considerable honour. In other words, the main objective of an ESWI is to give a limited number of Name: ESI III carefully selected representatives of the next gen- Date: June 1986 eration a unique opportunity for establishing a Location: Canterbury personal network and for addressing an interna- Country: UK tional audience and thus to create new research Theme: Decision-making in an Uncertain World groups around the topic chosen. Organiser(s): V. Belton (UK)

EURO regularly solicits proposals from the national Year: 1987 societies to host an ESWI. Proposals are then Name: ESI IV reviewed by the EURO Council. If approved, EURO Date: June 1987 provides a substantial contribution towards all Location: Turku expenses (room and board, social programme, Country: Finland etc.) "on location"; the rest is supposed to be pro- Theme: Systems Science vided by the host society itself or by gifts solicited Organiser(s): C. Carlsson (SF) by the host society. The travel costs, however, must be covered by the participants themselves Year: 1988 unless support can be obtained, for example from Name: ESI V their national societies. Guidelines for the organi- Date: June 1988 sation of ESWI are available upon request from the Location: Eindhoven Secretary of EURO. Country: Netherlands Theme: Production Planning and Control Each ESWI is announced in the EURO Bulletin, Organiser(s): M. de Kok (NL) OR/MS TODAY and similar newsletters or journals. Applications are channelled to EURO via the national societies and the final selection of participants is made by the Scientific Committee on the basis of submitted papers. 20 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure Year: 1989 Year: 1995 Name: ESI VI Name: ESI XII Date: June 1989 Date: June 1995 Location: Funchal Location: Canary Islands Country: Portugal Country: Spain Theme: Decision Support Systems Theme: Location Analysis Organiser(s): J. Paixo (P) Organiser(s): J. Barcelo, J. Moreno (SP)

Year: 1991 Year: 1996 Name: ESI VII Name: ESI XIII Date: June 1991 Date: January 1996 Location: Cetraro Location: Semmering Country: Italy Country: Austria Theme: Urban Traffic Management Theme: Stochastic Optimisation Organiser(s): M. Bielli (I) Organiser(s): G. Pflug (Aus.)

Year: 1992 Year: 1996 Name: ESI VIII Name: ESI XIV Date: June 1992 Date: June 1996 Location: Rosersberg Location: Piraeus Country: Sweden Country: Greece Theme: Risk Management in Complex Production Theme: Environmental planning and Transportation Systems Organiser(s): C. Pappis (Gr) Organiser(s): S.E. Anderson (SW) Year: 1997 Year: 1993 Name: ESI XV Name: ESI IX Date: September 1997 Date: July 1993 Location: St. Vincent, Aosta Valley Location: Mannheim Country: Italy Country: Germany Theme: Production scheduling, deterministic Theme: Hierarchical Planning stochastic and fuzzy approaches Organiser(s): C. Schneeweiss (D) Organiser(s): R. Tadei (I)

Year: 1994 Year: 1998 Name: ESI X Name: ESI XVI Date: July 1994 Date: August 1998 Location: Jouy-en-Josas Location: Warwick University Country: France Country: UK Theme: Combinatorial Optimisation Theme: Performance measurement (DEA) Organiser(s): C. Roucairol, H. Thiriez (F) Organiser(s): C.S. Sarrico (UK)

Year: 1995 Year: 2000 Name: ESI XI Name: EWI XVIII Date: April 1995 Date: March 2000 Location: Salford Location: Lac Noir Country: UK Country: Switzerland Theme: Maintenance, Replacement and Reliability Theme: Metaheuristic and combinatorial optimisation Modelling Organiser(s): M. Widmer (CH) Organiser(s): A.H. Christer (UK) Some of the ESWI held to date have led to the publication of a feature issue of EJOR. ■ ■ ■ 21 EURO Brochure The Mini EURO Conferences

Organising a Mini EURO Past Mini EURO Conferences Conference In addition to the large EURO-k conferences, con- Year: 1984 sidering all possible OR-subjects and as a supple- Name: MEC I ment to the established EURO Working Groups, Date: June-84 EURO initiated in 1984 the concept of Mini EURO Location: Bruges Conference. Its objective is to assemble a limited Country: Belgium number of specialists around a specific theme. Organiser(s): P. Allen (B) Theme: Management and Modelling of Dynamic Any member of any member society of EURO can Systems make a proposal for organising a Mini EURO con- Feature Issue: EJOR 25/1, 1986 ference. Guidelines are available from the Secre- Editor(s): P.M. Allen tary of EURO or from vice-president 2. These proposals have to be approved by the EURO Executive Year: 1985 Committee. Name: MEC II Date: Nov-85 Mini EURO conferences should be open to special- Location: Lunteren ists representing the entire OR community and not Country: Netherlands only address the organiser’s “domestic market”. In Organiser(s): H. Gelder (NL) case a proposal is approved by the Executive Theme: Experts Systems and Artificial Intelligence Committee, EURO will grant a loan to the organis- in DSS. An OR Interface to Management ers. Its purpose is to help the organisers in printing and distributing a Call for Papers to all members of Year: 1986 the National Societies and an invitation Pro- Name: MEC III gramme to all those interested. Date: June-87 Location: Hercegnovi Up to now 10 such Mini EURO conferences have Country: Yugoslavia been organised, the last one by J.P. Barthélemy on Organiser(s): S. Guberinic (Yu) “Human Centered Processes” in Brest (France) in Theme: Operations Research Methods in September 1999. Transport Planning and Traffic Control

EURO Vice-President 2 coordinates: Year: 1987 Prof. Raymond BISDORFF, Dpt Etudes en Gestion et Informatique, Name: MEC IV Centre Universitaire de Luxembourg, Date: Nov-88 162a, avenue de la Faiencerie, Location: Warwick L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg Country: UK Tel.: +352 470 261 851 Organiser(s): V. Belton (UK) E-mail: [email protected] Theme: Visual Interactive Modelling Feature Issue: EJOR 54/3, 1991 Editor(s): V. Belton, M. Elder 22 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure Year: 1993 Year: 1997 Name: MEC V Name: MEC IX Date: Oct-93 Date: Sep-97 Location: Thessaloniki Location: Budva Country: Greece Country: Montenegro (Yugoslavia) Organiser(s): V. Papathanassiou (Gr.) Organiser(s): D. Teodorovic (Y) Theme: Managing Business Opportunities in the Theme: Fuzzy Sets in Traffic and Transport Changing Balkan Markets Systems

Year: 1994 Year: 1999 Name: MEC VI Name: MEC XI Date: Jan-94 Date: Aug-99 Location: Liège Location: Helsinki Country: Belgium Country: Finland Organiser(s): G. Colson (B) Organiser(s): M. Pursula (FIN) Theme: Risk Management Theme: Artificial Intelligence in Transportation Systems and Science Year: 1995 Name: MEC VIII Year: 1999 Date: Oct-95 Name: MEC X Location: Thessaloniki Date: Sep-99 Country: Greece Location: Brest Organiser(s): V. Papathanassiou (Gr.) Country: France Theme: 3rd Balkan Conference on Operational Organiser(s): J.-P. Barthélemy (F) Research Theme: Human Centered Processes

Year: 1997 Name: MEC VII Date: Mar-97 Location: Bruges Country: Belgium Organiser(s): J.-P Brans (B) Theme: Decision Support Systems, Goupware, Multimedia, Electronic Commerce ■ ■ ■ 23 EURO Brochure The EURO Gold Medal

The EURO Gold Medal, the highest distinction The decision of the jury decision is publicly within OR in Europe, is conferred to a prominent announced at the Opening Session of the next person or a prominent institution, either for a EURO-k conference. Following a presentation of remarkable role played in the promotion of OR in the competition by the chairman of the jury, the Europe or for an outstanding contribution to the Laureate is invited to give a lecture. OR science. The Award, which officially is bestowed in conjunction with a EURO-k conference, is not The list of EURO Gold Medals that have already only a significant honour for the Laureate person- been conferred follows. ally, but also important for the general promotion of OR as leading scholars and their contributions 1985: H.J. Zimmermann (D) are made better known via the Medal. Laureates 1986: P. Hansen (B), A.H.G.Rinnooy Kan (NL) of the EURO Gold Medal are invited to all future 1988: E.M.L. Beale (GB) (posthumously) EURO-k conferences without payment of the reg- 1989: C. Berge (F) istration fees. 1991: J. Blazewicz (PL), R. Slowinski (PL), J. Weglarz (PL) Nominations of candidates are solicited from the 1992: B. Roy (F) national societies in the year prior to each EURO-k 1994: J.P. Brans (B), L. Wolsey (B) conference. To emphasise the European flavour of 1995: D. de Werra (CH) the Award, all societies are strongly urged not to 1997: R.E. Burkard (A), J.K. Lenstra (NL) propose a candidate from their own country. The 1998: P. Toth (I) nominations are then passed to a special jury of "Five Wise Persons" appointed by EURO.

Other EURO Instruments

General Support An annual budget up to CHF 15000 is available in instruments. Competitive bids may be made dur- response to bids from organs of EURO or organising each 6-month period. A deadline for submis- ers of EURO sponsored events for support for sion of bids is announced twice a year by the actions in a EURO context not covered by other Secretary of EURO. 24 ■ ■ ■ EURO Brochure Other Activities of EURO

EURO Prize for the Best Applied A EURO Thesaurus of OR Paper research units Since 1995, EURO-k conferences are marked by The thesaurus aims to spot active OR research the competition for the "EURO Prize for the best units from EURO-k conferences. The thesaurus is applied paper". All interested authors are invited available on the EURO web site at: http://www. to submit papers describing an application of ulb.ac.be/euro and a CD-ROM has been distribut- Operational Research which has original features, ed in August 1999 at the IFORS 15 conference, whether in methodology, application or imple- allowing to consult the database and to print hard mentation. copies from Postscript and PDF files. In order to consolidate the data base continuously, it is asked The purposes of the competition are: to everybody to check his own data and to make ■ to recognise outstanding accomplishments in the any comments to the EURO Office at [email protected] practice of Operational Research, ■ to attract more application-oriented papers to The rough material used as starting point is the EURO Conferences, databases of the three last EURO conferences, i.e.: ■ to promote the practice of Operational Research EURO XIV 1995, EURO XV 1997 and EURO XVI in general. 1998. The lists of topics defining the subjects of the papers were different for each conference. The winner of the Prize is determined by a jury Their consistency have been improved within the after the presentation of the papers in a special framework of the classification of International session. The winner of the Prize is announced by abstracts in OR. the chair of the jury during the closing session of the EURO-k conference. The EURO Prize for the Each OR research unit is characterised by the fol- best applied paper should be considered as a con- lowing items: country; city; designation; composi- siderable honour. The Prize in itself will consist of tion (i.e. the name of its members with their an ad-hoc certificate and the exemption of fees for e-mails if any, and the EURO conference where the next three EURO Conferences. they presented a paper); topics defining their specific research fields. The winners of the best applied paper prize were: Knowing places where OR research units are 1995 EURO XIV active, one of the incentives behind this thesaurus "ÒAMOS - a probability-driven, customer-oriented is to contact these units in order to consolidate the decision support system for target marketing of database on OR courses in Europe initiated by solo mailings" by Nissan Levin, Jacob Zahavi and Professor C. Pappis. On the other hand, this the- Morris Olitsky. saurus may also be considered as a tool to promote links between research units. 1997 EURO XV "HOP: A Software Tool for Production Scheduling at Bridgestone/Firestone Off-The-Road" by Zeger Degraeve and Linus Schrage.

1998 EURO XVI "Sorting farming systems on the basis of their impact on ground water quality" by Cécile Arondel and Philippe Girardin. ■ ■ ■ 25 EURO Bulletin Co-operation with Other Bodies

IFORS ALIO As one of the regional groupings of IFORS, EURO ALIO (Associacion Latino-Ibero-Americana de actively participates in the activities of IFORS. Since Investigacion Operativa) is one of the four region- 1987, EURO appoints a EURO Vice-President of al groupings of IFORS. An ALIO-EURO Workshop IFORS for a three-year period. This position was on Practical Combinatorial Optimisation was successively held by Jean-Pierre Brans (1989- organised by N. Maculan, F. Maffioli, F. Malucelli, 1991), Jacob Krarup (1992-1994), Rainer Burkard P. Toth and A. Weintraub at Erice (Sicily, Italy), (1995-1997) and by Dominique de Werra (1998- 2-7 November 1999. 2000). The EURO Vice-President of IFORS reports each year to the EURO Council. Proposals for similar ventures are hereby invited.

Furthermore, exchanges of young researchers between EURO and IFORS are carried out and work both ways: young researchers from Developing countries going to EURO Summer/Winter Institute (ESWI) and young European researchers going to IFORS institutes in developing countries.