International Symposium on Complex Systems Towards Sustainable Social Systems

The increasingly complex and interconnected world in which we live poses broad new challenges for science and society. Among the most important are global climate change, clean energy, population growth, sustainable food and water supplies, and the development of effective social organizations on both local and global scales.

The science of complex systems, which focuses on systems having many component parts and multitudes of interconnections, highly nonlinear interactions, and patterns of organization at many scales, provides an important perspective for addressing those challenges.

This symposium will gather experts from a variety of disciplinary and institutional backgrounds to explore strategies for developing sustainable social systems.

Monday, 14 December

Science and Culture (Chair: Shigeru Watanabe)

Yoshiharu Doi (Executive Director, RIKEN)
Shigeru Watanabe (Centre Director, CHC)
Opening Remarks

Chris Wood (Vice President, Santa Fe Institute)
Catalyzing trans-disciplinary research: Lessons from SFI's 25-year experience

Monique van Donzel (Nanyan Technological University)
Directions of NTU towards an Asian hub for interdisciplinary research

Erling Norrby (The Royal Swedish Academy of Science, Institute Para Limes)
Do the cultural conditions for making discoveries awarded with Nobel Prizes
change with time?

Culture and Evolution (Chair: Jan Vasbinder)

Luis Bettencourt (Los Alamos National Laboratory, Santa Fe Institute)
Growth, innovation, scaling, and the pace of life in cities

Atsushi Iriki (RIKEN Brain Science Institute, CHC)
Neuroscience of primates' intellectual evolution

Michel Hofman (Royal Academy of Arts and Science, Netherlands)
Human cognitive evolution

Yuichiro Anzai (Keio University)
Is cognition complex?

John Holland (University of Michigan, Santa Fe Institute)
Future directions of complex adaptive systems

Tuesday, 15 December

Complex System (Chair: Monique van Donzel)

Yilong Lu (Nanyan Technological University)
Evolutionary algorithm in natural, artificial and social systems

Hideyuki Okano (Keio University, CHC)
Innovative technologies on CNS regeneration and generation of neurological diseases model

Peter van den Besselaar (Rathenau Institute, Institute Para Limes)
Science as a Complex Ecosystem

Helena Hong Gao (Nanyan Technological University)
Linguistics as a complex adaptive system

Sustainable Evolution (Chair: Chris Wood)

Daan Frenkel (University of Cambridge, Institute Para Limes)
Thermodynamics and phase transitions

Jessika Trancik (Omidyar Fellow, Santa Fe Institute)
Modeling the innovation dynamics of energy systems and the levers for reducing carbon emissions

Jan Vasbinder (President, Institute Para Limes)
Direction of IPL and intellectual interactions in Europe

Takashi Maeno (Keio University, CHC)
Concluding Discussions

Toshiaki Makabe (Executive Director, Keio University)

Registration Procedure
(Online registration is required) Admission free.
For registration, please click Registration Form Link.
Telephone/Fax registration is not acceptable.
Registration deadline: Friday 13 December, 2009.

This event will be held in English; no interpretation will be provided.

Organizer : KEIO-RIKEN Research Centre for Human Cognition (CHC)
Co-organaizers: RIKEN Brain Science Institute Keio University Global COE Program
"Center for Advanced Research on Logic and Sensibility"
"Education and Research Center for Stem Cell Medicine"
"Organization of Education and Research of Safe, Secure and Symbiotic System Design"

Venue: Fujiwara Hiroshi Hall (Kyosei-kan) of Keio University, Hiyoshi Campus, Yokohama
4-1-1 Hiyoshi, Kohoku-ku, Kanagawa 223-8526
Access: 1min. walk from Hiyoshi Station
(Tokyu Toyoko•Meguro Line or Yokohama Municipal Subway Green Line)
Ltd. Express trains of Tokyu Toyoko Line do not stop at Hiyoshi Station.

Language: English only; no interpretation will be provided.

Inquiries can be sent to: Research Centre for Human Cognition (CHC)
E-Mail: [email protected]

From 14 Dec 2009
Until 15 Dec 2009
Fujiwara Hiroshi Hall (Kyosei-kan) of Keio University, Hiyoshi Campus, Yokohama
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