data analytics

As the 2019 INFORMS Annual Meeting draws to a close, I’m feeling particularly grateful for the wonderful conversations I’ve had with attendees during the past few days. I’m also thankful to have had the opportunity during today’s Ag cluster presentations to share my thoughts on an initiative that is near and dear to my heart: The Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics.

When Syngenta received the Franz Edelman Award for Achievement in Operations Research and the Management Sciences in 2015, my sincere hope was that the recognition would help put agriculture on the map as a field that data analytics professionals would consider pursuing. That’s why we donated our prize winnings to fund the Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics, a unique competition hosted by the Analytics Society of INFORMS.

Now in its fifth year, the Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics incentivizes data analytics students and professionals to contribute to the future of agriculture and solve a real-world problem. The 2020 Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics tasks entrants to develop models that can predict the performance of potential corn products. No prior knowledge or experience in agriculture is necessary to compete in the challenge; we’re looking for fresh ideas and perspectives from the data analytics community.

I personally invite you to enter the 2020 Syngenta Crop Challenge in Analytics – or share this special opportunity with your students or colleagues. Submissions are due Jan. 21, 2020, so there’s still plenty of time to put together a submission. Finalists will be announced in March, and will be invited to present their submissions at the 2020 INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics & Operations Research in Denver, Colorado, which is where the winning team will be announced. The winner will be awarded $5,000; the runner-up will receive $2,500; and the third-place team will receive $1,000.

For more information and to enter the 2020 Syngenta Crop Challenge, visit https://www.ideaconnection.com/syngenta-crop-challenge/.