Vortrag am 02.07.2026 von Julius Hoffmann

Die Professur für BWL, insb. Industrielles Management und die Fakultät Wirtschaftswissenschaften laden zu einem Vortrag von Julius Hoffmann ein.

Anmeldung:

Für die Veranstaltung ist eine Anmeldung erforderlich. Bitte nutzen Sie hierfür unser Online-Formular.

Abstract:

In classical operations research, we assume there is a single party that wants to make a decision that best aligns with its objective. However, in an interconnected world, the actions of one party often shape the feasible outcomes of another. Bilevel optimization captures this hierarchical interaction by considering a leader that optimizes its objective while anticipating the follower's optimal response. Having its origins in economics with the Stackelberg duopoly, bilevel optimization is now also used, e.g., in energy markets, supply‑chain management, marketing, and critical‑infrastructure design. For instance, a transmission‑system operator (leader) wants to design an electricity network so that, even if an attacker (e.g., terrorists or a natural disaster) eliminates some connections, the energy transition remains intact and highly effective.

In this 90‑minute presentation, we will cover the foundations of bilevel optimization. We start with a brief refresher on operations research fundamentals and classic solution concepts. After highlighting the applicability of bilevel optimization by modelling several classic bilevel problem settings, the core of the presentation addresses linear and mixed‑integer linear bilevel problems. For both problem classes, we will examine key properties and common pitfalls in their solution. Furthermore, basic solution algorithms are presented together with an open‑source solver for (mixed‑integer) bilevel problems.

Outline

• Preliminaries: Operations Research and its Basic Results
• Bilevel Optimization: Motivation and Applications
• (Continuous) Linear Bilevel Optimization
• Mixed Integer Linear Bilevel Optimization
• Conclusion

© Julius Hoffmann

Zum Referenten:

Julius Hoffmann ist  Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter am Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), Institut für Operations Research (IOR-DOL. Seine Forschungsthemen sind Spieltheoretische Ansätze in der Standortplanung und Scheduling.