Neur2BiLO: Neural Bilevel Optimization

Bilevel optimization deals with nested problems in which a leader takes the first decision to minimize their objective function while accounting for a follower best-response reaction. Constrained bilevel problems with integer variables are particularly notorious for their hardness.  While exact solvers have been proposed for mixed-integer~linear bilevel optimization, they tend to scale poorly with problem … Read more

On Coupling Constraints in Linear Bilevel Optimization

It is well-known that coupling constraints in linear bilevel optimization can lead to disconnected feasible sets, which is not possible without coupling constraints. However, there is no difference between linear bilevel problems with and without coupling constraints w.r.t. their complexity-theoretical hardness. In this note, we prove that, although there is a clear difference between these … Read more

Solution methods for partial inverse combinatorial optimization problems in which weights can only be increased

Partial inverse combinatorial optimization problems are bilevel optimization problems in which the leader aims to incentivize the follower to include a given set of elements in the solution of their combinatorial problem. If the set of required elements defines a complete follower solution, the inverse combinatorial problem is solvable in polynomial time as soon as … Read more

Riemannian Bilevel Optimization

In this work, we consider the bilevel optimization problem on Riemannian manifolds. We inspect the calculation of the hypergradient of such problems on general manifolds and thus enable the utilization of gradient-based algorithms to solve such problems. The calculation of the hypergradient requires utilizing the notion of Riemannian cross-derivative and we inspect the properties and … Read more

Addressing Hierarchical Jointly-Convex Generalized Nash Equilibrium Problems with Nonsmooth Payoffs

We consider a Generalized Nash Equilibrium Problem whose joint feasible region is implicitly defined as the solution set of another Nash game. This structure arises e.g. in multi-portfolio selection contexts, whenever agents interact at different hierarchical levels. We consider nonsmooth terms in all players’ objectives, to promote, for example, sparsity in the solution. Under standard … Read more

A Single-Loop Algorithm for Decentralized Bilevel Optimization

Bilevel optimization has received more and more attention recently due to its wide applications in machine learning. In this paper, we consider bilevel optimization in decentralized networks. In particular, we propose a novel single-loop algorithm for solving decentralized bilevel optimization with strongly convex lower level problem. Our algorithm is fully single-loop and does not require … Read more

A Bilevel Optimization Approach for a Class of Combinatorial Problems with Disruptions and Probing

\(\) We consider linear combinatorial optimization problems under uncertain disruptions that increase the cost coefficients of the objective function. A decision-maker, or planner, can invest resources to probe the components (i.e., the coefficients) in order to learn their disruption status. In the proposed probing optimization problem, the planner, knowing just the disruptions’ probabilities, selects which … Read more

Connections and Reformulations between Robust and Bilevel Optimization

Robust and bilevel optimization share the common feature that they involve a certain multilevel structure. Hence, although they model something rather different when used in practice, they seem to have a similar mathematical structure. In this paper, we analyze the connections between different types of robust problems (strictly robust problems with and without decision-dependence of … Read more

Markov Decision Process Design: A Framework for Integrating Strategic and Operational Decisions

We consider the problem of optimally designing a system for repeated use under uncertainty. We develop a modeling framework that integrates design and operational phases, which are represented by a mixed-integer program and discounted-cost infinite-horizon Markov decision processes, respectively. We seek to simultaneously minimize the design costs and the subsequent expected operational costs. This problem … Read more

Bilevel optimization with a multi-objective lower-level problem: Risk-neutral and risk-averse formulations

In this work, we propose different formulations and gradient-based algorithms for deterministic and stochastic bilevel problems with conflicting objectives in the lower level. Such problems have received little attention in the deterministic case and have never been studied from a stochastic approximation viewpoint despite the recent advances in stochastic methods for single-level, bilevel, and multi-objective … Read more