The Swarm Development Group (SDG) is an American non-profit organization to advance the development of

complex adaptive system A complex adaptive system (CAS) is a system that is ''complex'' in that it is a dynamic network of interactions, but the behavior of the ensemble may not be predictable according to the behavior of the components. It is '' adaptive'' in that the ...

-oriented

agent-based model An agent-based model (ABM) is a computational model for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents (both individual or collective entities such as organizations or groups) in order to understand the behavior of a system and ...

ing (ABM) tools initiated at the

Santa Fe Institute The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) is an independent, nonprofit theoretical research institute located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States and dedicated to the multidisciplinary study of the fundamental principles of complex adaptive systems, inc ...

(SFI) in Santa Fe, New Mexico, US.

History

Swarm Development Group was formed in 1999 by a group of multidisciplinary scientists, researchers, and software developers, led by Chris Langton. Langton was also the founder of the emerging field of research called

artificial life Artificial life (ALife or A-Life) is a field of study wherein researchers examine systems related to natural life, its processes, and its evolution, through the use of simulations with computer models, robotics, and biochemistry. The discipline ...

. The initial, primary, role for the SDG was to house continued development of the Swarm simulation software after the software become independent of the SFI in 1999. The role of the Swarm Development Group has expanded to include the co-ordination of a long-running conference SwarmFest during May, June, or July each summer – typically hosted by a different research university each year. Developers, users, and researchers gather to present research papers and discuss the state of Swarm and other agent-based modeling platforms like RePast (University of Chicago) and Ascape (Brookings). Typically, a wide range of academic, corporate, and government organizations are represented at SwarmFest. The first SwarmFest was in 1998 while Swarm was still sponsored by the Santa Fe Institute. From SwarmFest 2000 onwards, after the SDG was formed in late 1999, SwarmFests were organized directly by the SDG. Recent SwarmFests have been held at a variety of institutions. SwarmFest 2007 was held at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from ...

's School of Computer Science, Telecommunications, and Information Systems, in Chicago. SwarmFest 2008 was held at Northwestern Memorial Hospital/

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago. Swarmfest 2008 had special focus areas on agent based modeling in

Systems Biology Systems biology is the computational modeling, computational and mathematical analysis and modeling of complex biological systems. It is a biology-based interdisciplinary field of study that focuses on complex interactions within biological system ...

, and the implementation of

agent based model An agent-based model (ABM) is a computational model for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous agents (both individual or collective entities such as organizations or groups) in order to understand the behavior of a system and w ...

s in

high-performance computing High-performance computing (HPC) is the use of supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Overview HPC integrates systems administration (including network and security knowledge) and parallel programming into ...

environments. Between 2009 and 2012, SwarmFest was held at the Santa Fe Complex in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Swarmfest 2013 was held at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

in Orlando, Florida July 8–9.; SwarmFest 2014 was held at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana from June 29 – July 1, 2014; the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina (in 2015), the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont (in 2016), and Old Dominion University in Suffolk, Virginia (in 2017),SwarmFest2017
/ref> were the selected venues.

References

External links

Swarm Development Group
{{authority control Complex systems theory Systems science institutes Organizations established in 1999 1999 establishments in the United States