Simulation offers a powerful way to explore complex systems. As Joshua Epstein provocatively argued, if you didn't grow it, you didn't explain it. In this talk, Dr Bernd Wurth will provide a 'grand tour' of simulation approaches used in the social sciences, including system dynamics and agent-based modelling. Using examples from innovation and entrepreneurship, he will illustrate how different modelling perspectives capture heterogeneity and network interactions, and how hybrid approaches can combine these frameworks. The talk will also touch on the statistical questions these models raise — from calibration and inference to model checking — and where methods like simulation-based inference may offer promising directions.
Dr Bernd Wurth is a Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Complexity Science at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. His research applies complex systems approaches such as system dynamics, agent-based modelling, and networks to entrepreneurship and innovation, from regional ecosystems to individual decision-making, clarifying the reciprocal relationship between contexts and entrepreneurial action. Beyond academia, he is the founder of Venturithm, a start-up developing simulation-based decision tools for entrepreneurs, and collaborates with organisations including the OECD and the Scottish Science Advisory Council.
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Lili Wei for Glasgow Local Group