Fundamental research at GERAD contributes to the development of digital intelligence. We have four research axes. The first (valuing data for decision-making) relates to descriptive and predictive analytics (two of the three pillars of digital intelligence). The other three areas (Decision support made in complex systems, decision support made under uncertainty, real-time decision support) relate to prescriptive analytics (the third pillar of digital intelligence) where mathematical optimization methods are mainly implemented to guide decision-making.

In addition to theoretical and methodological developments in our four axes, one of the specificities of GERAD is the deployment of such methods in large fields of application which are seven in number: economy and finance; energy, environment, and natural resources; smart infrastructure; engineering; intelligent logistics; marketing; health.

In terms of innovation, GERAD also works on the development of software (commercial, open source or free) which are all tools that contribute to different areas, such as optimization based on a principle of column generation (GENCOL software), black box optimization (NOMAD software); or computer-assisted graph theory (AutoGraphiX software).