Special Issue on IEEE-ICCC 2006

The study of systems and complexity has taken an intriguing route in the last hundred years, involved some of the most fascinating scientists, synthesised new fields of research and found novel applications requiring a fresh and revolutionary approach. Computational Cybernetics is a pragmatic response for the needs of engineering and social systems that integrates Cybernetics with Computational Intelligence. The IEEE International Conference on Computational Cybernetics (IEEE ICCC) has been successfully promoting the open-minded but scientifically sound integration of advanced mathematical and systems engineering methods in multidisciplinary domains since 2003. This special issue is a selection of the most characteristic and instructive papers from the previous IEEE ICCC conference, held in the summer of 2006 in Tallinn, Estonia. All of the papers in this issue represent vividly the broad scope and integrating nature of Computational Cybernetics. As Tar et al. notes in the first paper, a century-old conjecture of Hilbert solved fifty years ago can help us build new solutions in the 21 st century in the field of nonlinear system control. In the same way each of the following papers represent a bridge between analogies from nature, computational methods and challenging multidisciplinary problems – helping us to convey our message to the professional audience of this journal. The special issue editors would like to thank the authors of the papers in this issue, the participants of the IEEE ICCC conferences for contributing to its stimulating, multidisciplinary environment and the professional support of the Journal editors and their staff.