CANet Northwestern

Research

NICO/CANet faculty members conduct both basic and applied research that spans business, engineering, education, the social sciences, law, medicine, the natural sciences and the humanities. Applied research programs are proposed, sponsored or co-sponsored, and participated in by CANet members. These research and design engagements focus on the design of products, services, processes and culture components that underlie innovation. These engagements engage can focus on one organization or involve a collaboration of several.

Funding comes from the organization(s) involved or from a combination with funding from external agencies (e.g., National Science Foundation). This research looks at complex business problems and draws from research, theory, concepts, models and tools from complexity science.

Examples of the types of projects CANet addresses through research with its partners include:

Understanding security, as well as terrorist networks, as self-organizing entities
Using agent based modeling to predict and select methods for encouraging or inhibiting the spread of biological or conceptual viruses
Conceiving of supply chains as knowledge networks
Creating innovative organizations
Self-organization at all levels
Anticipating reputational risks and crisis potentials
Complexity and corporate culture
Supply chain design - robustness and resilience