Over the past few weeks, I've been pondering over the observations of Geoffrey West and his team. In their cross-disciplinary research on complex adaptive systems, they looked for common underlying principles that could be applicable to biological systems and social systems alike: What do animals and plants, companies and cities have in common? West's key findings In this quest for … Continue reading Cities, companies, and innovation – The crucial interplay
Tag: business
Cities, companies, and innovation – Why companies will die
Geoffrey West started his scientific career as a theoretical physicist before he shifted his attention to complex adaptive systems. He focused on interdisciplinary research with a specific interest in the commonalities that social systems share with biological systems: Could it be that cities or companies actually follow the same underlying principles like plants or animals? Is London a great big whale? Is Walmart … Continue reading Cities, companies, and innovation – Why companies will die
Cities, companies, and innovation – Prologue
It's rather rare that I'm immediately fascinated when I hear about an idea for the first time, but Geoffrey West's 2011 TED talk about The surprising math of cities and corporations really stunned me. A theoretical physicist and former president of the Santa Fe Institute, West's quest is for a genuine science of cities, based on universal principles, with quantifiable … Continue reading Cities, companies, and innovation – Prologue
Three days, three breakthroughs
Wow, what a ride! Just between 10 and 12 December 2015 –within the blink of an eye– three events occurred that we will likely consider breakthroughs in a couple of years: the Paris Agreement, the launch of OpenAI, and the first successful run of Wendelstein 7-X. While one of those events is widely agreed as historic, the other two currently … Continue reading Three days, three breakthroughs
The limits of complexity
In our daily lives, we are engulfed with complexity. It is all around us: just think about business transactions, global trade, health care systems, jet engines, the energy grid, the tax code, computers, ... Many would even add the remote control of their stereo or the radio in their car to that list. Yet despite that almost permanent … Continue reading The limits of complexity
understanding innovation 