Orchestro Launches Retail Industrys First Science Network

A leading data technology company has brought together 12 of the top retail and supply chain experts from the world of academia to help further the research of retail and consumer packaged goods.

Orchestro said in a news release the Orchestro Science Network was formed to help address the challenges facing the consumer goods industry.

Orchestro uses big data analytics to assist some of the world’s largest brands gather insights about consumers. The company’s headquarters are in northern Virginia’s technology corridor, but about half its employees work from its Center of Excellence in Rogers, founded in 2004.

The network will be chaired by Matt Waller, who was recently appointed chief scientist at Orchestro. Waller also holds the Garrison Endowed Chair in Supply Chain Management in the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, hailed by Orchestro as the epicenter of retail supply chain research.

The 12 leading researchers have access to an array of real-world big data challenges, and will work to find the right algorithms to predict things like on-shelf availability, promotion success and new product introduction.

“The science to drive truly breakthrough performance exists, but the devil is always in the details of implementation and how it gets applied,” Waller said in a news release. “The Orchestro Science Network puts the research that’s being done in the top institutions across the United States right at our clients’ fingertips. That’s the power to innovate and drive competitive advantage, at the pace that retail demands.”