Complexity Management: New Challenges and Business Opportunities in the 21-st Century

Abstract

The study of complex systems such as the biosphere, gene expression data or the climate, has led to an increased understanding of their behaviour and characteristics. However, even though complexity is becoming an increasingly important issue in modern science and technology, there are no established and practical means of measuring it. Clearly, measurement constitutes the basis of any rigorous scientific activity. The ability to quantify something is a sine-qua-non condition towards being able to manage it.

We propose a comprehensive complexity metric as well as a conceptual platform for practical and effective complexity management. The metric takes into account structure, entropy and data granularity. The metric allows one to relate complexity to fragility and shows how critical complexity levels may be established for a given system. It is shown how every dynamical system possesses the so-called "critical complexity" in the proximity of which it exhibits a large number of possible modes of behaviour. The "state of health" of a generic system may therefore be measured based on its distance from criticality. The tracking of complexity over time establishes an innovative monitoring mechanism which is used in Business Intelligence, medicine as well as in engineering.

Biography

Dr. Jacek Marczyk, the founder of Ontonix, has over twenty-five years of experience in Computer-Aided Engineering in the aerospace, automotive and off-shore industries. He holds an MS in Aeronautics Engineering (Politecnico di Milano, Italy), MS in Aerospace Engineering (Politecnico di Torino, Italy) and a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain). In the mid 1990s he has introduced to the industry the first commercial tool for large-scale stochastic simulation, ST-ORM. He has actively pioneered innovative methodologies for uncertainty and complexity management and has published four books on stochastic and nonlinear mechanics. During his career, he has worked for EADS/CASA (Manager High Performance Computing Applications), BMW AG, Centric Engineering Systems, ESI (Director, Advanced Mechanics Development), Silicon Graphics (Director, Integrated Simulation), Tecnomare, EASi Engineering (Vice President, Advanced Technologies) and MSC Software (Chief Scientist). In 2005 Ontonix launched the World's first commercial software system to measure and manage complexity.

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