Find your next solver
A curated index of Operations Research resources — solvers, courses, books, datasets, communities and more. Classified by type, topic and audience.
- Advanced Analytics in PracticeNewsletter
Advanced Analytics in Practice focusing on breaking down what it takes to build real-world advanced analytics applications.
- AGI? No, thank you!Newsletter
AGI? No, thank you! Learning and Intelligent Optimization? Yes, please! https://intelligent-optimization.org/
- AI for Better PlanningNewsletter
Learn more about how AI is changing businesses and how you can leverage it: Insights, tools, tips, and expert voices
- AliGorithmVideo
YouTube channel with interesting knowledge about optimization.
- Anything you can do I can do betterVideo
Prof Marco Lubbecke talks about optimization in a TED Talk.
- ArcadeTSPGame
An arcade-style TSP challenge game written for https://github.com/tunnuz/arcadetsp's 2018 Christmas Party, follow the in-game instructions.
- Beer GameGame
Learn supply chain principles through a visual simulation.
- Burrito Optimization GameGame
Web-based app that is intended to act as an entry point for data scientists and problem solvers who could benefit from optimization; the game teaches players why optimization is valuable and important, why it’s difficult (by showcasing the scaling and added complexity of optimization throughout round play), and why solvers and other optimization algorithms are essential in finding an optimal solution.
- CSPlibDataset
CSPLib is a library of test problems for constraint solvers.
- CVRP GameGame
A game to better understand how CVRP works.
- CVRPlibDataset
Instances for the CVRP challenge.
- Discrete Optimization TalksPodcast
Discrete Optimization Talks (DOTs) is a virtual seminar series from the Mixed Integer Programming Society (MIPS), a technical section of the Mathematical Optimization Society (MOS). Topics of interest are theoretical, computational, and applied aspects of integer and combinatorial optimization. The typical format of each session is two 30-minute talks.
- FeasibleNewsletter
Where Operations Research practitioners share real-world strategies and emerging techniques for optimal decision-making.
- Free the world from wasteful scheduling with Timefold AIVideo
Solve NP-hard optimization problems with Timefold AI.
- IISE Operations Research podcast seriesPodcast
It features conversations between students, faculty and professionals around OR-related topics
- Impactful AnalyticsNewsletter
Analytics, Data Science, and AI - Actionable insights and thoughts to drive positive business transformation and impact.
- InsideOpt Weekly PuzzleNewsletter
One puzzle every week.
- Learn Graph TheoryGame
Interactive resources to learn Graph Theory.
- Learn ORGame
Interactive resources to learn OR.
- Lego ChallengeGame
The TLC is a simple constrained integer program turned into a game that you can play in a classroom with Legos. In each round of the game, your team acts as a boutique woodworking company who must decide which items to build and sell to the market. The goal is to decide how many of each type of item to build to maximize profits and beat other teams, where you are constrained by how many component pieces you have available.
- MathOpt: Solver Independent Modeling in Google OR-ToolsVideo
A new interface for Google OR-Tools.
- Mathprog-ORlibDataset
This site provides access to a number of Operations Research problem data sets.
- Mike Talks AINewsletter
Practical AI for business, my experience starting and selling a company, and other content.
- MIT Supply Chain FrontiersPodcast
Thought leadership from the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics.
- ML ain’t your only hammerVideo
Introduction to the field of mathematical optimization.
- NeEDS - Network of European Data ScientistsPodcast
The Network consists of six academic and nine industrial participants from five EU countries, USA and Chile. The participants combine strong and complementary expertise, within industry sectors ranging from energy, retailing, insurance to banking, as well as national statistical offices.
- NextmvNewsletter
Roundup of Operations Research, Decision Science, and DecisionOps content from Nextmv and the optimization community
- Optimization Games for the YoungGame
Developed to help spark an interest for mathematics in children and young adults. I use optimization concepts in the context of real-life problems as motivation. All you need are a printer to print the pages with the instructions and a pair of scissors to cut out the game pieces.
- Optimization in open-sourceNewsletter
Business Intelligence using optimal decision making tools.
- Optimizing youPodcast
Discussions around optimization, interviewing academics in the field of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering
- Optsicom ProjectDataset
Instances for several interesting NP-hard problems.
- PlannedNewsletter
Planning education for real-world stuff, the newsletter for problem solvers at scale.
- Ponder This!Game
Seems some of us can't see a problem without wanting to take a crack at solving it. Does that sound like you? Good. Forge ahead and ponder this month's problem. We'll post a new one every month, and allow a month for you to submit solutions (we may even publish submitted answers, especially if they're correct).
- PRADO seriesNewsletter
🌟 Welcome to the Prescriptive Analytics and Decision Optimization (PRADO) Series 2025! 🌟 The series of presentations about OR in practice, tools, and technologies. 📅 Program Sneak Peek: 🎤 March: Optimizing pharmacy procurement with substitution of drugs
- Pragmatic OR: Solving large scale optimization problems in fast moving environmentsVideo
Rubén Ruiz, Principal Applied Scientist at Amazon, shows how he leverages Hexaly at Amazon to solve a gigantic optimization problem that is out of the scope of other MILP solvers.
- Punk Rock ORNewsletter
Laura Albert’s newsletter about OR.
- Puzzles and GamesGame
A comprehensive guide to mathematical modeling with more than 140 games as case studies.
- QAPlibDataset
Instances for Quadratic Assignment Problems.
- Resoundingly Human - INFORMSPodcast
The podcast from INFORMS that talks about different topics around Operations Research
- Slick Oil GameGame
Deliver 100 barrels to the customer at the lowest cost. Select wells and refineries to choose volume flowing on pipe-lines.
- SNDlibDataset
SNDlib is a library of data for Survivable fixed telecommunication Network Design. Its purpose is to provide data about realistic telecommunication networks (including traffic) available to the research community.
- Subject toPodcast
"Subject to" offers a series of informal conversations with relevant figures in the fields of Operations Research, Combinatorial Optimization and Logistics, and they are hosted by Anand Subramanian, an Associate Professor at Universidade Federal da Paraíba (UFPB), Brazil
- The Cutting PlaneGame
Learn about cutting planes in an adictive way.
- The Decision Intelligence LabPodcast
The Decision Intelligence Lab explores practical challenges of applying data science, analytics, and AI to drive real-world business outcomes. Hosted by Prof. Michael Watson (Nortwestern University) and Prof. Vijay Mehrotra (University of San Francisco) - both seasoned entrepreneurs, consultants, and researchers - this podcast delivers real-world insights for data professionals, business leaders, & anyone seeking to leverage data for smarter decision making. Each episode features leaders sharing how smarter decisions are reshaping business and technology.
- The Decision StrategistNewsletter
Advice from a decision strategist with 19 years expertise in analytics & AI, inc. Gartner, system integrators & industry
- The Knapsack GameGame
A game to play the Knapsack to learn how to solve it.
- The OR-LibraryDataset
OR-Library is a collection of test data sets for a variety of Operations Research (OR) problems.
- TSP ChallengeGame
Another game with map visualizations for the TSP.
- TSP GameGame
Solve the TSP in a visual way from the Productions and Operations Management (Universitat Wein).
- TSPlibDataset
TSPLIB is a library of sample instances for the TSP (and related problems) from various sources and of various types.
- VRPlibDataset
This web is dedicated to the study of VRP; we have compiled here a great deal of information about it for public access: technical reports, many different variants of the problem, alternative algorithms and techniques for solving it, some well-known instances of the problem, the best-so-far solutions for those instances, bibliography, related links…