Programme Director;

Ms Elise del Rosario, President of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies;

Prof. Sarma Yadavalli, President of the Operations Research Society of South Africa;

Mr Hans Ittmann, Chair of the Local Organising Committee;

Distinguished Guests;

Ladies and Gentlemen

Apart from the fact that the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) is celebrating its 50th anniversary, what makes this 18th Triennial Conference particularly special to South Africa is that it is the first IFORS Conference to be held on African soil.

Since the first conference in 1957 in Oxford, in the United Kingdom, the membership of IFORS has grown to well over 25 000, and the organisation is represented in more than 45 countries in four geographic regions – Asia Pacific, Europe, North America and South America.

And this is no mean feat by any imagination. I must therefore congratulate the Operations Research Society of South Africa on having secured the privilege of hosting this conference in our beautiful country, and at a time when our continent is making strides in addressing her socio-economic and other challenges.

As a discipline, Operations Research warrants great attention as it uses advanced analytical methods such as mathematical modelling to help decision-makers find the best possible solutions to the problems they face.

Our countries and organisations need operations research to produce better strategies, reduce organisational risks and provide insight into difficult problems.

It is worth noting that Operations Research began during World War Two when mathematical techniques were used to support military operations. Among the early successes in the applications of Operations Research was the determination of optimum depth-charge settings for anti-submarine warfare, which was employed during the Battle of the Atlantic.

The result of these successes prompted the military to seek scientific help for all sorts of operational, planning and logistical problems.

It is therefore very clear that the military aspect that spawned the discipline was only incidental. Soon after, industry followed the lead established by the military, and today the methods used in Operations Research are employed in many management, marketing and business disciplines.

As a country, we have to deal with pressing issues relating to the burden of disease, poverty, unemployment and crime, among others, which also pose problems for the rest of Africa and the world. Therefore, the need for operations research worldwide can never be overemphasised.

More research in methods and techniques is required to address these serious problems. Problem structuring methods are but one type of approach to address these, and it is pleasing to note that one of the plenary sessions will be devoted to humanitarian logistics, a new field of logistics whose applications in Africa is crucial.

We need operations research practitioners to use scientifically tested methods to provide solutions to our problems.

In South Africa, operations research is not used as intensively in the public sector as it is in the private sector. This is a source of concern, and the situation will have to change if we are to meet the Millennium Development Goals, and improve the lives of our people.

Many of our problems have multiple root causes, and require the kind of skills that operations research can offer, such as multiple criteria decision making. Like most countries in Africa, South Africa is a developing country, which faces many challenges, and I believe many of these can be addressed using Operations Research.

While government must ensure that operations research is used to inform strategies to address our socio-economic challenges, organisations like the Operations Research Society of South Africa have to market their work as viable tools for decision makers.

Operations research cannot remain an obscure field to most, especially our young people. We need to build the critical mass of human capital for this important discipline. Both transformation and human capital development are challenges faced not only in operations research, but throughout our National System of Innovation.

If we are to improve our people's quality of life, we must market operations research as an academic discipline and a profession intensively at schools.

We must begin by first dispelling the myth that Mathematics is a theoretical subject with little use in the real world. Our youngsters must learn early that mathematics can be used to solve the real problems facing people, communities, and organisations.

It is a source for concern that Africa has only two IFORS affiliates – Egypt and South Africa.

However, the efforts to encourage the creation of operations research networks in the rest of the continent through the "OR into Africa" project, made by the South African Operations Research Society, assisted by IFORS and EURO, one of the IFORS regional groupings, give us hope. We also welcome the efforts made by IFORS to include Kindred Societies, as this will give the Federation links to countries that do not yet have national societies ready to join it.

May I in closing wish you well in your deliberations over the next four days. I hope our delegates from other countries will enjoy our wintry sunny weather and spectacular biodiversity.

It is now my singular pleasure to declare the 18th International Federation of Operational Research Societies Triennial Conference officially open.

Thank you.