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758. The sustainability of operations - past, present, future
Invited abstract in session WB-20: Moments in the history of OR 1, stream Moments in the history of OR.
Wednesday, 10:30-12:00Room: 45 (building: 116)
Authors (first author is the speaker)
| 1. | Joel Joris Van de Klundert
|
| School of Business, Universidad Adolfo Ibanez |
Abstract
Human operations, whether in business, at home, or otherwise, are causing a transgression of the boundaries of a safe and just operating space for planet Earth and humankind. Developments in operations that have steadily grown over the long course of history, and which have especially gained momentum since the uptake of fossil fuel powered machines in the recent and on-going industrial revolutions, now threaten to cause irreversible damage to ecosystems and society. The present situation calls for new perspectives and understanding of operations and operations research that enable to change the course of development and for operations to provide sustainable solutions for the planet and humankind.
In this talk we firstly reflect on the history of operations while explicitly reflecting on its environmental and social sustainability and on the corresponding development of operations research, roughly from the Big Bang onwards. Next we reflect on the (un)sustainability of today's operations and reflect on operations research contributions (being) made.
The on going 4th industrial revolution, which depends so extensively on analytics and data science, promises to change the way humankind lives and works, the way we operate, once again. Hence it provides a window of opportunity for operations researchers to learn from the past and aim to contribute to creating sustainable operations for humankind and planet Earth. We review the state of the art on contributions of the fourth industrial revolution for sustainable operations and highlight priorities for future sustainable operations research.
Keywords
- OR in Sustainability
- OR History
- Sustainable Development
Status: accepted
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