Agent-based modeling is an advanced simulation method which enables researchers to examine the dynamics of complex adaptive systems. It involves the creation of a model composed of multiple ‘agents’, each implementing a simplified set of rules and influenced by environmental stimuli, which interact with one another in various ways. Thanks to this feature, researchers can gain insight into the emergent social and collective behaviour arising from individual processes, within a context of time and space. This type of modeling has become increasingly popular over the past decade, allowing researchers to simulate, analyse and predict the behaviour of socio-economic and biological systems like never before.

See also: emergence, evolutionary computing, evolution, game theory