PURPOSE : NK models, initiated in biology by Stuart Kauffman, have proven an attractive method to analyse the structural evolution of any entity characterized by a complex inner structure where complexity is originated by structural interdependencies among elements composing the entity.

Organizations, technologies and industrial artefacts fully fall into this category: a number of applications have been produced which use NK or related models to study their evolution and have allowed to address formally such issues as organizational fit, organizational and technological decomposability and modularity, organizational and technological lock-in and path-dependence, etc.

This doctoral workshop will provide a unique opportunity for doctoral students interested in NK models to be exposed to the latest results and research trends by leading scholars in the field. The first day will be devoted to tutorials which will cover theory, applications and programming techniques. The following two days will consist of presentations of papers and discussion in a relatively small and highly interacting group.

Doctoral students will be asked to present a paper or a research proposal during the workshop, depending upon the stage of advancement of their research.

PROGRAM

Thursday 12^th June: Doctoral Training Day

Venue: Scuola Superiore S. Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, Pisa, Room 8

14:15 – 14:30 Registration, welcome and practicalities.

14:30 – 15:00 Basics of NK modelling (Luigi Marengo, Scuola Superiore S. Anna)

15.00-16.00 Applications to technology studies (Koen Frenken, Utrecht University)

16:00 – 16:15 Coffee break

16.15-17.00 Applications to organizational studies (Luigi Marengo, Scuola Superiore S. Anna)

17.00-18.00 Issues in computer implementations and simulations (Marco Valente, University of L’Aquila)

18:00 – 19:30 Students’ paper and research proposals presentations

Friday 13^th June: Workshop Day 1

Venue: Scuola Superiore S. Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, Pisa, Room 3

9:00 – 9:30 Registration, welcome and practicalities.

9:30 – 11:30 Perspectives on NK modelling – Chair: Luigi Marengo

- Dan Levinthal (Wharton), “From Proteins to Organizations: Extending the NK Framework”

- Gerald Silverberg (UNU-MERIT and IIASA), “Landscape models of technological change, a comparison of percolation, NK and Euclidian space models”

- Marco Valente (L’Aquila), “Pseudo-NK: a deterministic model for complex landscapes”

11:30 – 11:45 Coffee break

11:45 – 13:00 Modularity – Chair: Alessandro Nuvolari

- Werner Callebaut (KLI), “The Modularity of Matter”

- Marcus Geipel (ETH Zurich), “Empirical perspectives on Modularity”

13:00 – 14:00 Lunch

14:00 – 16:00 Organizations – Chair: Koen Frenken

- Thorbjorn Knudsen and Nils Stieglitz (Southern Denmark), “Does Adaptation Cumulate? Structural Responses to Changing Task environments”

- Kerstin Press (ETH Zurich), “Vanishing hands? On the link between product and organisation architecture”

- Matthijs den Besten (Oxford), “Capturing organizational capabilities with NK - an avenue worth exploring?”

16:00 – 16:15 Coffee break

16:15 – 17:30 Empirical approaches – Chair: Kerstin Press

- Stefano Brusoni (Bocconi), “Replication as Process: Framing the Design Space of Hybrid Engines”

- Alessandro Nuvolari (Technical University Eindhoven), “Fitness landscape models and history of technology”

20:30 Dinner

Saturday 14^th June: Workshop Day 2

Venue: Scuola Superiore S. Anna, Piazza Martiri della Libertà 33, Pisa, Room 3

9:00 – 10:10 Technological innovation – Chair: Marco Valente

- Floortje Alkemade (Utrecht), “Patterns of exploration and exploitation in sustainable technologies: a fitness landscape approach”

- Luigi Marengo (S. Anna, Pisa), “Product innovation and patent in complex product spaces”

10:10 – 10:30 Coffee break

10:30 – 11:50 Reflections – Chair: Thorbjorn Knudsen

- Ben Vermeulen (Technical University Eindhoven), “That obscure object of desire: the operational technology landscape (and have we found what we are looking for in the NK landscape?)”

- Koen Frenken (Utrecht), “Generalising NK-modelling: changing parameters into variables”

11:50 – 13:00 Round table and general discussion

· Koen Frenken. (moderator)

· Werner Callebaut

· Thorbjorn Knudsen

· Daniel Levinthal

· Luigi Marengo

· Gerald Silverberg

· Bart Verspagen (to be confirmed)

13.00 Lunch and farewell

For practicalities and updates visit the Workshop Website: https://mail.sssup.it/~l.marengo/NK08.html

Organization and information: Luigi Marengo, LEM- St. Anna School of Advanced Studies, P.za Martiri della Libertà 33, 56127 Italy, phone: + 39-050883343, e-mail: l.marengo@sssup.it