Overview
NECSI was established by faculty of various New England academic institutions, to encourage communication and collaboration on these topics. Their take on "complex systems":
Complex systems have multiple interacting components whose collective behavior cannot be simply inferred from the behavior of components. The recognition that understanding the parts cannot explain collective behavior has led to various new concepts and methodologies that are affecting all fields of science and engineering, and are being applied to technology, business and even social policy.
NECSI has been called "a pioneer in using mathematics, computation and other quantitative methods to analyse topics like ethnic violence, economic crises and healthcare systems," by the press.
Read more about this topic: New England Complex Systems Institute