About us

The Herbert A. Simon Society, created in Torino in 2008, is named after the winner of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Economics Herbert A. Simon (1916-2001) who innovate radically in many fields and was the founder of Artificial Intelligence, Cognitive Psychology, Behavioral Economics and Theory of Management and Organization.

The Herbert Simon Society (HSS) is a non-profit international Network Research Institute that brings together cognitive scientists, neuro scientists, economists, social scientists, computer scientists and philosophers aiming to renew and apply the fundamental concept of bounded rationality to the model of thinking, reasoning, problem solving and decsion making. Starting from the seminal work of Herbert Simon in economics, psychology, artificial intelligence, organizational theory, management and philosophy of science the HSS wishes to tackle the current debate about new cognitive models of economic rationality and social action, the alternative architectures of mind, the mind-brain relations, the simulation of creativity, the uncertainty and complexity of economic and social environment.

The Simon Society will meet this objective by connecting scholars and academic research centres that have already been committed for years to develop cognitive sciences, economics a and social sciences. The criterion will be that of opening economic and social sciences to contributions from other disciplines such as neuro-cognitive sciences, artificial intelligence, complexity theory, and epistemology.

Along these lines it will develop a programme of fellowships and grants for young scholars characterized by originality and interdisciplinarity.

Moreover it twill disseminate and diffuse the new knowledge through new and old media and through conferences, lectures and training courses.

Finally, it will offer its contribution in application to public and private economic decision-makers and policy makers who want to update the instruments for analysis and forecasting.

Who we are

The Herbert Simon Society was born in Turin (Italy) in 2008. The Herbert Simon Society is chaired by Gerd Gigerenzer (Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin) and managed by Riccardo Viale (University of Milano-Bicocca). It relies in an international network of academic researchers and consultants in Europe and US. Some of the most important cognitive science centres in the world, as the Max Planck Institute for Human Development of Berlin and the Behavioural Insight Group of Harvard University (Cambridge, US) are its main international reference. It provides empirical research, theoretical modelling, computer simulation, and dissemination and diffusion of scientific knowledge through new and old media, training activity, workshops, lectures and conferences, both to private companies and public institutions. The main areas of expertise are:

  • Artificial Intelligence
  • neuro cognitive models of thinking and decision making
  • cognitive and behavioural economics
  • behavioural finance and banking
  • financial education
  • cognitive and behavioural sociology
  • behavioural organization
  • creativity and problem solving
  • models of scientific discovery
  • managerial and entrepreneurial decision making
  • behavioural insights in public policy
  • nudging and architectures of choice
  • behavioural public administration
  • statistical literacy
  • complexity and uncertainty
  • man-machine cognitive ergonomics