29th Summer School – Conference: Visit the webpage  here

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The Complex Systems and Applications group (COSA) was formed in 16/11/2006 by decision of the Executive Board of the National Centre of Scientific Sciences “Demokritos”. Researchers from “Demokritos”, other Greek Research Centers and Universities participate in the COSA group, who wish to collaborate on issues related to Complex Systems and applications.

During the last 20 years a wide variety of research and educational activities have developed, under the names of Nonlinear Science or Complexity Science. This science is initially based on great mathematical discoveries during the decades 1960 – 1980, in the fields of Chaos Theory and Geometry of Fractals. Along with many theoretical results, a wide spectrum of computational algorithms and experimental findings in physical, biomedical, economical and technological complex systems were discovered, with common characteristics such as: abrupt changes from periodical to “chaotic” behavior, irregular statistics, lack of predictability, self-organization, and spatial complexity in the form of self-similarity of their geometrical structure in many scales.

This activity has rapidly expanded during the last 40 years, resulting in the foundation of many Research Institutes of Complex Systems in the U.S.A. (Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos, Institute for Complex Systems, Santa Fe) and Europe (Center for Nonlinear Phenomena and Complex Systems, Brussels, Center for Nonlinear Systems, Nice (Sophia Antipolis), Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi, Roma, Max Planck Institute for Complex Systems Dresden, etc.). Tens of new journals were created and hundreds of new books were written, while a great many international events were organized, such as congresses, summer schools and postgraduate programs on issues related to “Nonlinear Dynamics and Complex Systems”.

The main advantage of this new science is that it restores the communication and interconnection between different areas of specialization. This “synergy” is achieved through the application of mathematical discoveries, flexible computational models and analysis of complex systems. The final objective is the comparison of theoretical prediction with the outcome of a wide base of laboratory experiments and observations in many sciences.