Santa Fe Institute Profile

Many of society’s most pressing problems fall far from the confines of disciplinary research. Complex problems require novel ideas that result from thinking about non-equilibrium and highly connected complex adaptive systems. We are dedicated to developing advanced concepts and methods for these problems, and pursuing solutions at the interfaces between fields through wide-ranging collaborations, conversations, and educational programs. SFI combines expertise in quantitative theory and model building with a community and infrastructure able to support cutting-edge, distributed and team-based science. At the Santa Fe Institute, we are asking big questions that matter to science and society.

SFI CHALLENGES
These are some of the larger structural issues that SFI scientists are concerned with.

Generating the ideas and methods for the trans-disciplinary sciences of the 21st century
Seriously addressing the interconnected future of the Nation and the Earth
Providing for needs of the next generation through Science Education
Tackling the limitations of Disciplinary peer-review by identifying cutting edge and high-risk proposals and papers
Overcoming the risk-averse limitations of the University environment to generate Innovative Science

METHODS PIONEERED AT SFI
This is a list of some of the important and widely used methods developed at the Santa Fe Institute over the last 25 years.

Agent-based Models
The Science of Networks
Mathematical Immunology
The Physics of Markets
Adaptive Landscapes for Biology and Technology
Genetic Algorithms
The Physics of Computation
Computational Chemistry and Combinatorial Drug Discovery
Machine Learning
Molecular Computation

CRITICAL CONCEPTS DEVELOPED AT SFI
These are a few of the organizing concepts that integrate the many research projects of the Santa Fe Institute.

Complexity Measures
The Theory of Robust Systems
Principles of Innovation
Emergence
Scaling in Biology and Culture
The Connection between Energy and Information
Intelligence in Nature
The Theory of Risk
Chaos
Game Strategies and Conflict
Evolveability and Open Ended Change
Quantitative and Meta-history
Economic Positive Returns
Criticality and Edge of Chaos
Evolutionary Economics
Quantum Cosmology

CORE SFI PROJECTS
These are ongoing research projects currently funded and generating peer reviewed papers and monographs.

The Origin of Life
The Evolution of Information (genes - languages - computers)
The Evolution and Devolution of Society
The Dynamics of Financial Markets
History of Languages
The Prediction and Management of Conflict
The Growth of Cities and Intellectual Capital
The Structure of Food webs
Distributed Decision Making and Cognition
Efficient Algorithm Design for Network Science
Measuring Biological and Technological Innovation

SFI FOCUS AREAS

Risk, Markets and Innovation (Organized by J. Doyne Farmer)
The Multiple Scales of Conflict (Organized by Jessica Flack)
Cities, Scaling and Sustainability (Organized by Luis Bettencourt and Geoffrey West)
Emergence in Decision Making and Cognitive Systems (Organized by David Krakauer)