Santa Fe Institute Mission and Vision

Mission

The Santa Fe Institute is a transdisciplinary research community that expands the boundaries of scientific understanding.  Its aim is to discover, comprehend, and communicate the common fundamental principles in complex physical, computational, biological, and social systems that underlie many of the most profound problems facing science and society today.

Vision

Many of society’s most pressing problems fall far from the confines of disciplinary research.  Complex problems require novel ideas that result from thinking about non-equilibrium and highly connected complex adaptive systems.  We are dedicated to developing advanced concepts and methods for these problems, and pursuing solutions at the interfaces between fields through wide-ranging collaborations, conversations, and educational programs.  SFI combines expertise in quantitative theory and model building with a community and infrastructure able to support cutting-edge, distributed and team-based science.  At the Santa Fe Institute, we are asking big questions that matter to science and society.