The Ryan Institute on Complexity is a revolutionary research center designed to change the way business, markets and societal issues are studied, combining multidisciplinary talents and quantitative sciences in new ways to tackle bigger problems faster. In a world of increasingly dizzying interconnectedness and network interdependence, an understanding of what happens at the nexus between entities will transform the thinking and practice of how humanity solves its grandest challenges.
Complexity will soon permeate every aspect of business and science, and the most effective leaders will succeed through managing and controlling a system’s complexity. The Ryan Institute harnesses the power of big data and artificial intelligence to address complex challenges, while providing Kellogg students with an understanding of powerful new quantitative approaches to problem solving.
Complexity Science and the Ryan Institute
The goal of the Ryan Institute is to improve understanding of how the success of organizations, regions and nations build from their deep and rich interconnections. With this focus, the Ryan Institute will be the first of its kind to be housed in a business school and is boldly leading the adoption, development, and application of complexity science to business practice and the science of innovation.
Initial areas of focus of the Ryan Institute will include the power of social networks, the secrets of invention and human-machine partnerships – looking at topics such as the robust patterns that govern individual and collective behavior and understanding when and how innovation occurs.
The Ryan Institute is a landmark event in science that gathers academic and industry leaders from diverse fields who will pioneer the use of complexity science to solving foundational societal problems.
Unique to the Ryan Institute is a “dry lab” setting typically found in the hard sciences, which will enable scholars to work with big data and the quantitative tools needed to study social and business phenomena on a large scale – using the laboratory model to attack open questions at unprecedented scale and to accelerate the rate of discoveries.
Faculty directors
About the Ryan family
The Ryan Institute on Complexity was created through a $25 million gift from the Ryan Family Foundation. The Ryan Family has made deep and broad philanthropic investments across the institution including nanotechnology, the musical arts, the Ryan Family Scholars Program for high-achieving, low-income students with exceptional leadership potential, and the ongoing efforts to Rebuild Ryan Field.
The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Family Foundation is the philanthropic arm of the Ryan family, which includes Pat ’59, ’09 H (’97, ’00 P) and Shirley ’61, ’19 H (’97, ’00 P); Pat ’97 JD, MBA and Lydia; Rob ’00 JD, MBA and Jennifer; and Corbett.
“We are thrilled to support the establishment of this revolutionary research institute. Cutting-edge analytical approaches can now unlock unimaginable understandings of our complex world that will be transformational for business and society.”