In August 2025, the Center for Algorithmics and Optimization at RWTH Aachen University hosted FRICO 2025, a three day workshop organized by PhD students from various institutes within our center. We held the workshop at the iconic Super C building, which offers a nice view of Aachen's skyline and its historic cathedral.
Over the course of three days, we had the pleasure of welcoming 52 speakers from universities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. The event was filled with fantastic presentations from both familiar faces and many new participants. A fresh addition this year was FRICO's first-ever invited speaker: Prof. Jannik Matuschke from KU Leuven delivered an engaging talk titled "Algorithms and Certificates for Popular Branchings and Matchings: What Happens When a French Revolutionist Meets LP Duality?"—a perfect way to wrap up the workshop.
A big thank you goes out to the organizing team behind FRICO 2025, namely Tim Donkiewicz, Felix Engelhardt, Lennart Kauther, Liam Nyssen, Philipp Pabst, and Vladimir Stadnichuk. Special appreciation is due to Dina Hermanns for her dedicated assistance in planning the workshop and managing finances; Katharina Eickhoff for her support during the event; and Floris Groteclaes for designing the logo.
Even though this year's workshop was shorter than previous ones, we still enjoyed a lively social program that included an outdoor event at Aachen's university sports center, a pub quiz, a bakery tour at Klein's Printen, and a conference dinner.
None of this would have been possible without our sponsors: Siemens, Gurobi Optimization, IVU Traffic Technologies, and DHL Data & AI. They also showcased their work during FRICO. We'd also like to extend our gratitude to gapzero—a local startup from Aachen—for their generous donation.
Looking ahead, we're excited to see what Ekin Ergen, Srinwanti Debgupta, and Lizaveta Manzhulina have in store as they prepare for next year's FRICO at Technische Universität Berlin!
