Optimization Challenge
The Optimization Challenge is an undergraduate competition organized by the Sabancı University Industrial Engineering Program, with the 2025 edition sponsored by ICRON. In the first round, the student teams will be asked to solve logistics optimization problems in two rounds. After the remote first round, the finalist groups will be invited to the campus for the final round. The top three groups will earn awards together with the bragging rights as the best undergrad optimizers!
Efficiently delivering healthcare services to underserved communities is a key challenge. The public health authority aims to address this by deploying M healthcare units to serve N communities, considering both accessibility and operational constraints. Each unit is placed within a community, has a limited capacity C, and must minimize the maximum population-weighted distance that any community must travel. Additionally, equipment must be distributed from a central depot (node 0) to each unit based on the population it serves, using a fleet of ambulances with a fixed capacity (Q=10,000). The problem is structured in two stages: first, optimizing unit deployment and assignments, and second, planning efficient equipment distribution routes to minimize travel effort.
For more details, please download the full problem description here. You need to register to access the problem instances.
