Industry simulation environment

Abstract

An apparatus and method for simulating a global industrial environment. In one embodiment, the global industrial environment models a global economy as a set of interlinked economies, models a management framework as a set of interlinked management functionalities, and models both individual and organizational behaviors through a use of a set of interlinked agents. In another embodiment, operational data independent from the interlinked economies, interlinked management functionalities, and interlinked agents is customized at run-time. In another embodiment, individuals are electronically trained in a synthetic environment for analysis and simulation of a global industrial system. In this embodiment, the environment includes a virtual execution environment, a pre-exercise briefing, one or more rounds of exercise-time activity, and a post-game analysis.

1 . A method for simulating a global industrial environment, the method comprising: 
 modeling a global economy as a set of interlinked economies;    modeling a management framework as a set of interlinked management functionalities; and    modeling both individual and organizational behaviors through a use of a set of interlinked agents, wherein the set of interlinked agents actively transact in the global economy and implement one or more of the set of interlinked management functionalities, and wherein the global industrial environment is dynamically configurable.    
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , and further comprising customizing operational data in a distributed data management system for the set of interlinked economies, the set of interlinked management functionalities, and the set of interlinked agents, so that one or more variables in the global industrial environment changes over time.  
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of interlinked economies includes markets for goods, services, stocks, bonds, labor, currency, and intellectual property.  
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of interlinked management functionalities includes strategic planning, operations, production, distribution, accounting, quantitative methods, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, finance, and human resource functionalities.  
     
     
         5 . A method for war-gaming a global economy implemented on a distributed computing environment, the method comprising: 
 forming a virtual global economy as a set of interlinked economies and political entities, wherein each economy is modeled based on a set of markets selected from a group consisting of goods, services, stocks, bonds, labor, currency, and intellectual property;    representing a firm based on a set of management functionalities selected from a group consisting of strategic planning, operations, production, distribution, accounting, quantitative methods, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, finance, and human resources; and    engaging by a player as a firm against at least another player as another firm, which is a competitor of the firm, so as to induce a desired business strategy.    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the distributed computing environment includes one or more elements each of which is selected from a group consisting of Active Server Pages, Java Server Pages, Enterprise Java Beans, Simple Java Classes, and Extensible Markup Language (XML) documents.  
     
     
         7 . A method for electronically training individuals in a synthetic environment for analysis and simulation of a global industrial system, the method comprising: 
 creating a virtual execution environment on a distributed computing system, wherein the virtual execution environment is dynamically configurable;    conducting a pre-exercise briefing;    simulating a global economy having one or more markets;    operating a human agent in the virtual execution environment;    operating a plurality of artificial agents in the virtual execution environment, wherein the plurality of artificial agents represent intelligent software agents that each has a knowledge base programmed with rules of engagement;    simulating one or more management functionalities;    conducting one or more rounds of exercise-time activity; and    conducting a post-game analysis.    
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the method is performed in an order recited in  claim 7 .  
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the human agent is selected from a group consisting of a buyer agent, a seller agent, a regulator agent, am intermediary agent, and an organizational agent.  
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the plurality of artificial agents are each selected from a group consisting of an individual agent and an organizational agent.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the knowledge base of each of the plurality of artificial agents is selected from a group consisting of communications knowledge, messaging knowledge, operational knowledge, functional knowledge, and knowledge about authority.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more markets of the global economy are each selected from a group consisting of goods, services, stocks, bonds, labor, currency, and intellectual property.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 7 , wherein the one or more management functionalities are each selected from a group consisting of strategic planning, operations, production, distribution, accounting, quantitative methods, mergers and acquisitions, marketing, finance, and human resources.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 7 , and further comprising populating one or more independent data stores with customized data.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the customized data is selected from a group consisting of customized data, customized behaviors, customized scenarios, customized rules, and customized content.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 7 , and further comprising operating one or more additional human agents in the virtual execution environment.