Bedir Tekinerdogan

Professor and chair of the Information Technology Group
at Wageningen University and Research.

Systems of Systems as Complex Adaptive Systems: Implications for Systems Engineering

Bio.

Professor Bedir Tekinerdogan is a computer scientist with over 30 years of experience in software engineering, systems engineering, and information technology. He earned his MSc and PhD degrees in Computer Science from the University of Twente, the Netherlands. He is currently a full professor and chair of the Information Technology Group at Wageningen University and Research.

Professor Tekinerdogan is recognized among Stanford University’s World’s Top 2% Scientists, appearing in both the career-long and annual rankings, and placing in the top 0.2 percent globally in 2025. He has authored over 500 scientific publications and edited 15 academic books. As a principal researcher and lead architect, he has contributed to numerous large-scale industrial and research projects in domains including consumer electronics, automotive systems, critical infrastructures, cyber-physical and defense systems, precision agriculture, and energy systems. His work bridges theory and practice, with a strong focus on software and systems architecture, product line engineering, model-based systems engineering, data science, and AI-enabled systems.

In addition to his research, he is a committed educator and mentor. He has designed and delivered more than 30 academic courses, provided professional training to over 50 companies worldwide, supervised more than 40 PhD students, and graduated over 100 MSc students. His work consistently emphasizes the development of engineers who can think beyond components and code, and who are equipped to design, integrate, and govern complex software-intensive systems.

Abstract.

System of Systems (SoS) consists of independently managed and evolving systems that interact to provide capabilities no constituent system can achieve alone. Their behavior is therefore difficult to explain using systems engineering approaches that assume stable boundaries, centralized control, and largely predictable system behavior. This paper examines SoS from the perspective of Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS). It shows that several defining characteristics of SoS closely correspond to well-known properties of CAS, including emergence, self-organization, adaptation, non-linearity, and distributed control. Based on this correspondence, we discuss what the CAS perspective means for systems engineering practice, particularly for managing emergence, distributed governance, continuous evolution, and adaptive architectures. The CAS perspective does not replace systems engineering. Instead, it complements existing approaches and helps systems engineers deal with SoS whose behavior cannot be fully predicted or controlled in advance.