Network structure and dynamics
Innovation networks
Opinion dynamics and communication networks
The field of opinion dynamics, while studying the behaviour of systems with reactive agents, has been the one that more frequently reports on successful applications of concepts and techniques from dynamical systems theory. The role of structural interventions and their remarkable consequences to the system final states are at the root of the dynamics of opinion formation. In this topic we have been targeted at characterizing the interplay of opinion dynamics and the emergence of clusters of divergent opinions. From the network structure that underlies the dynamics of opinion exchange, we are able to show that when communication constraints are defined, the system is lead to a clustered opinion profile. A similar characterization addresses the role that existing (societal) structures play in the spread of innovation; and conversely, the effectiveness of innovation and its impact on structure creation in societies of agents.