VIEW THE ENTIRE PROCEEDINGS OF THE WORKSHOP ON VIDEO HERE

CSTEP, in collaboration with the Technical University of Delft (TU-Delft) from the Netherlands hosted a workshop on the "Role of Modeling, Simulation, and Gaming in Policy Analysis" on July 3 and 4, 2009 in Bangalore. The main purpose of the workshop was to familiarize participants with the use of modeling, simulation and policy analysis for infrastructure design and operations.

Events that marked the workshop included an introduction to agent based modeling that TU-Delft associate professor Dr. Gerard P.J. Dijkema provided. He described the approach as an innovative one, and useful in describing for example the development of the electricity infrastructure as the result of the interactions of many diverse actors. Addressing the evolution of industrial clusters, assistant professor Ir. Igor Nikolic highlighted the need for multiple stakeholders and perspectives to create a shared understanding of the systems.

An agent modeling exercise was led by TU-Delft Assistant Professor Dr. Jaco Appelman. In this session, participants were divided into groups, and asked to play the roles of stakeholders in determining different factors that involved in the evolution of urban industrial clusters. They then followed it up with a hypothetical exercise in which a top ranking state official was assigned as a typical agent, and his characteristics identified. Participants across various sectors provided useful inputs on the expectations and responsibilities of such an official.

In an illustration of an in-progress simulation project relevant to the perishable goods market, CSTEP engineers and researchers demonstrated the role of interdisciplinary skills in the evolution of the Mango Mandi game. In this situation, primary field research work involved actual visits to mango markets, to ascertain dealer behavior, which would help model specific agents. In order to determine if agent behavior models that of human counterparts, participants were asked about policies that need to be created to avoid waste in transportation of mangoes, and parties responsible for waste of perishable goods. Responses were then tallied against parameters used in game development. The Mango Mandi simulation is currently in the final stages of development.