Nature-Inspired Computing

A new book entitled "Handbook of Research on Nature Inspired Computing for Economy and Management" is in the process of being edited by Dr. Jean-Philippe Rennard, Senior Professor, Grenoble Graduate School of Business, Grenoble, France. From his blurb:

The advance of computer science and the remarkable growth of computing power over the last thirty years have made the computer a fantastic tool to cope with complexity. The emergence of nature inspired computing is one of the most amazing achievements of these researches. The universality of the computing techniques inherited from nature, i.e. their applications as well in biology, physics, engineering as in economy or management, clearly demonstrates their depth. These new tools are used in two different ways, both highly promising for economy and management: emergent (bottom-up) simulations and optimization. Emergent simulations lead to a better understanding of complex interactions and to original theoretical approaches. Nature inspired algorithms for optimization lead to efficient, supple and adaptable tools.

Nature-inspired computing has some real potential for helping to fuel to shift to software agent technology. Whether the model is swarms, colonies, or or other natural metaphors, software agents seem well-suited for attacking complexity and modeling extremely dynamic systems.