Biography

César A. Hidalgo is an assistant professor at the MIT Media Lab, and faculty associate at Harvard University's Center for International Development. Before joining MIT, Hidalgo was an adjunct lecturer in public policy at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a research fellow at Harvard's Center for International Development. Hidalgo's work focuses on improving the understanding of systems by using and developing concepts of complexity, evolution, and network science; his goal is to help improve understanding of the evolution of prosperity in order to help develop industrial policies that can help countries raise the living standards of their citizens. His areas of application include economic development, systems biology, and social systems. Hidalgo is also a graphic-art enthusiast and has published and exhibited artwork that uses data collected originally for scientific purposes. A native of Santiago de Chile, Hidalgo holds a PhD in physics from the University of Notre Dame and a bachelor's degree in physics from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. With Ricardo Hausmann et al., he is co-author of The Atlas of Economic Complexity (2011). His most recent book is Why Information Grows: The Evolution of Order, from Atoms to Economies (Basic Books, 2015).