The International Conference on Operations Research OR 24, jointly organized by the German Operations Research Society (GOR), the Austrian Society for Operations Research (ÖGOR), and the Swiss Operations Research Society (SVOR/ASRO) took place from September 3-6, 2024, on the downtown campus of the Technical University of Munich. The conference is a great platform to share research findings, discover new applications, and discuss emerging technologies with professionals and leading experts. SAP was a gold sponsor of the OR24 and was involved in several sessions.

Developer Anne Kißler together with TUM research assistant and doctoral candidate Christoph Kerscher, and Tobias Müller from SAPs Industry-University Collaboration group lead a session with three parts about Innovation and Technology in Industry.

Anne Kißler showcased how to get from an academic to a real-world problem and from there to standard software that is actively maintained and continuously developed. 

Christoph Kerscher presented part of his research on our SAP@TUM Collaboration project on New Approaches to Vehicle Routing. His talk focused on machine learning-based decomposition methods, which enable fast and efficient solutions for real-world routing scenarios when translated into theoretical vehicle routing problems.

Tobias Müller provided insights into the collaboration model between SAP and TUM with examples of how such a collaboration could be set up, its benefits, drawbacks, and lessons learned.

Finally, Mathias Goebelt from SAP held a semi-plenary in the TUM Audimax, highlighting SAP’s Supply Chain Management Software and its use of optimization algorithms for tackling large-scale supply chain challenges within SAP’s cloud and on-premise solutions. The talk covered SAP's application of various algorithms, AI, and quantum computing across multiple areas, emphasizing future innovations and scalability.