The Santa Fe Institute (SFI) seeks to map the landscape of ideas of the future. Many of society’s most interesting observations, and most pressing problems, fall far from the focus of disciplinary research. Complex problems require novel ideas that are suited to thinking about non-equilibrium, highly connected, adaptive systems. We are dedicated to developing advanced concepts and methods for these new problems, and pursuing through wide ranging collaborations, conversations, and education, solutions to difficulties that lie on the interfaces of fields. SFI combines expertise in quantitative theory and model building with a community and infrastructure able to support cutting-edge, distributed and team-based science. In an interconnected world we need interconnected ideas delivered by an interconnected research institute - the Santa Fe Institute.

Is SFI’s research relevant? Those who know the Santa Fe Institute know we concern ourselves with the underlying and often unseen structures, patterns, and connections in complex systems that, if we understand them well enough, might one day unlock the sorts of knowledge disciplinary science hasn’t yet revealed. This focus on the fundamental nature of things demands that we avoid the temptations of immediate, tangible outcomes.