Decision Science Alliance

What Decision Science Alliance does

Decision Science Alliance (DSA, legal name: Associazione Decision Science Alliance) is a Swiss-registered nonprofit association founded in 2019 in Lugano, Switzerland, by a group of academics and entrepreneurs, operating with a small core staff of 6. The organization's purpose is to build a global community advancing AI-driven decision-making by connecting companies, universities and research centers, startups, investor networks, nonprofits, and advisors. Its core offerings are organized around five programmatic pillars: DSA Advisory (expert consulting), DSA Academy (courses, masterclasses, workshops, and mentorship programs developed with academic and industrial partners), DSA Lab (collaborative Research & Innovation project platform), DSA Career Corner (talent connection in operations research, AI, automation, and data science), and IDA Magazine (a knowledge and thought-leadership publication). Major convening events include the International Summer Conference series (ISC23 Milan, ISC24 Valencia, ISC25 Catania, ISC26 Madrid) and the Decision Science Summit (DSS'26 at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), complemented by workshops, masterclasses, and the Road to Summit programming across Rome, Lugano, and Valencia.

The organization does not build proprietary AI software products; its "technology" is the curated application of decision-science frameworks—operations research, mathematical optimization, machine learning, and data analytics—delivered through expert advisory, education, and project orchestration. Notable platform components include Startup Battle competitions for AI-driven startups, a 1:1 Business Assessment Desk, and the NTT DATA Award at ISC25 for applied AI solutions. Academic anchors are unusually deep: co-founders include full professors from University of Milan (Giovanni Righini, founder of Optlab), Universitat Politècnica de València (Angel A. Juan, also DSA Lab Director), University of Salerno (Raffaele Cerulli, AIRO President since January 2024), and SUPSI (Emanuele Carpanzano, Director of Research, Development and Knowledge Transfer). Strategic corporate partners include NTT DATA, Guy Carpenter, Spindox, and Optit, while public-sector relationships extend to Regione Lombardia, Lazio Innova, CNR, and ENIA.

DSA's revenue model combines recurring membership fees, transactional event ticket and registration income, and corporate sponsorship streams (e.g., the DSS Corporate Stream for applied-AI and operations-research leaders). Pricing is not publicly disclosed, and a 2026 membership relaunch has been announced. Geographic operations are concentrated in Switzerland, Italy, and Spain, with the Spanish footprint expanding in 2026 through DSS'26 in Madrid. As a nonprofit, the organization has no venture funding, no parent company, and no equity ownership; it is governed by a board of nine co-founders covering operations, science, ethics, legal, editorial, and community management functions.

Name

Decision Science Alliance

Legal name

Associazione Decision Science Alliance

Website

https://decisionsciencealliance.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Decision Science Alliance is a Swiss nonprofit that builds a global community advancing AI-driven decision-making by connecting companies, universities, startups, investors, and advisors through flagship conferences (ISC and DSS), education (DSA Academy), expert advisory, collaborative R&D (DSA Lab), and the IDA Magazine publication.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Decision Science Professional Services Community

NAICS

Management Consulting Services (54161), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

Keywords

• Decision science community
• AI decision-making advisory
• Operations research events
• Nonprofit professional networking
• AI education programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Lugano

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Fees: The organization offers membership to join the DSA community with access to events, networking, and professional development resources.
2. Event Tickets and Registrations: Revenue generated from ticket sales for conferences, summits, workshops, and masterclasses including the Decision Science Summit and International Summer Conference.
3. Corporate Stream and Sponsorship: Corporate engagement through dedicated streams and sponsorship opportunities at major events, including the DSS Corporate Stream for applied-AI and operations-research leaders.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Decision Science Alliance is a Swiss nonprofit that operates a global community to advance AI-driven decision-making in organizations. It sells paid access to annual conferences (Decision Science Summit and International Summer Conference series), membership in the DSA community, expert advisory engagements with senior operations research and AI academics, structured educational programs through DSA Academy, and collaborative Research & Innovation projects via DSA Lab, complemented by the IDA Magazine thought leadership publication.

Product overview

Decision Science Alliance is a nonprofit organization offering a portfolio of services centered around advancing AI-driven decision-making. The core offerings include DSA Advisory (expert consulting services), DSA Career Corner (talent connection platform), DSA Academy (educational programs with courses and masterclasses), DSA Lab (collaborative R&I project platform), and IDA Magazine (knowledge/thought leadership publication). The organization also hosts major events including the Decision Science Summit and International Summer Conference series. This is not a software product company but rather a community and professional services organization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Decision Science Summit: Annual global summit on decision science where top industry leaders and world-class academics explore the real-world impact of AI-driven decision-making.
• International Summer Conference
• DSA Academy
• DSA Lab
• IDA Magazine

Products and services

• DSA Advisory
• DSA Academy

Quantifiable outcome

• 100+ organizations engaged at ISC25 conference
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

17 partnerships are on record, tiered core, strategic and partner.

• AIRO (Italian Association of Operations Research)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 September 2025DSA co-organizes ODS 2025 (Optimization and Decision Science Conference) with AIRO, held at Casa Schuster in Milan. The conference brings together international experts in decision science, optimization, and operations research.
• Regione LombardiacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 July 2025DSA presented its international community to Regione Lombardia and invited public institutions to actively participate in the collaborative ecosystem, recognizing decision science as a key enabler for informed, transparent, and adaptive public decision-making.
• Universitat Politècnica de ValènciacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing academic partner hosting ISC24 and collaborating on multiple workshops and events. Professor Angel A. Juan serves as DSA Lab Director.
• University of MilancoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAcademic partner hosting ISC23 and ODS 2025. Professor Giovanni Righini serves as DSA Scientific & Ethics Committee Director.
• University of CataniacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost of ISC25 International Summer Conference 2025, bringing together over 100 organizations from academia, industry, and government.
• SUPSI (University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEmanuele Carpanzano serves as Vice President & Co-Founder of DSA and is Director of Research, Development and Knowledge Transfer at SUPSI. Collaborates on Industry 5.0 in Pharma events.
• Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHost of DSS'26 Decision Science Summit 2026. Fourth edition of International Summer Conference hosted in Madrid in collaboration with UPM.
• Lazio InnovacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPromoter of Zero Invasive Healthcare Forum aimed at finalizing proposals for Horizon Europe 2026-2027 Work Programme on non-invasive diagnostic and therapeutic technologies.
• NTT DATAstrategicGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization and sponsor providing the NTT DATA Award at ISC25 for researchers and companies developing AI solutions with real-world impact.
• Guy CarpenterpartnerGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization visible in DSA network ecosystem, indicating collaborative relationship in the decision science community.
• SpindoxpartnerGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization visible in DSA network ecosystem, indicating collaborative relationship in the decision science community.
• OptitpartnerGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner organization visible in DSA network ecosystem, indicating collaborative relationship in the decision science community.
• CNR (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerItalian National Research Council participated in 'Decision Science at the Service of Regione Lombardia' event, exploring applications in public governance and healthcare.
• AIRO YoungcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYoung researchers branch of AIRO participated in Regione Lombardia event to build science alliance supporting institutions in smarter decision-making.
• Desire (Research Group)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch group participated in 'Decision Science at the Service of Regione Lombardia' event focused on evidence-based decision-making.
• ICSO Meta Consolidated Research Group at CIGIPcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint organizer of ValencianTech Int. Workshop on Data Analytics, Algorithms, and AI with DSA and EURO WG on Business Analytics and AI Interfaces.
• EURO Working Group on Business Analytics and AI InterfacescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-organizer of international workshops on Data Analytics, Algorithms, and AI with DSA and ICSO research group.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Institute for Mathematics and its Applications (IMA): IMA is a US-based applied mathematics institute hosting workshops, conferences, and postdocs relevant to optimization and decision-making. It overlaps thematically with DSA's academic engagement model rather than competing directly for European corporate sponsors.

Direct peers

• EURO (Association of European Operational Research Societies): EURO is the federation of European OR societies, organizing the annual EURO conference and working groups. DSA already collaborates with EURO Working Group on Business Analytics and AI Interfaces, making EURO a direct peer and partner in the same European OR community space.
• Decision Sciences Institute: DSI is an international professional organization dedicated to the advancement of decision sciences, hosting an annual global conference and the Decision Sciences Journal. It directly parallels DSA's mission of advancing decision science across academia and industry.
• Analytics Society / INFORMS Analytics Section: INFORMS' Analytics Section and related analytics communities organize events and content around AI/analytics-driven decision-making, directly overlapping DSA's community-and-conference offering for analytics practitioners.
• AIRO (Italian Association of Operations Research): AIRO is the Italian national OR society that co-organizes ODS 2025 with DSA. It runs its own conferences, awards, and young researcher programs, making it the closest national-level peer and a near-overlapping partner.

Broad incumbents

• The Operational Research Society: The OR Society is the UK's oldest OR professional body, running annual conferences, journals, and member programs. It is a comparable established association serving the OR community with conferences and publications.
• AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence): AAAI is the leading AI professional society, hosting the annual AAAI Conference and major AI competitions. It is a broad incumbent serving the AI community that DSA also engages via its decision-science-and-AI positioning.
• INFORMS: INFORMS is the largest international professional society for operations research and analytics, offering conferences, publications, certifications, and member communities. It is the dominant incumbent comparable to DSA's mission of advancing OR/AI-driven decision-making.
• SIAM (Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics): SIAM is a large international society running major conferences, journals, and activity groups in applied mathematics including optimization. It serves a similar technical-academic community overlapping with DSA's OR/optimization focus.

Regional players

• MORS (Military Operations Research Society): MORS is a defense-focused OR society running symposiums and working groups. While specialized, it serves a comparable niche professional-society model with conference-driven engagement and is geographic-orthogonal to DSA's European commercial/policy focus.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/decision-science-alliance

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Decision Science Alliance