What System Dynamics Society, Inc. does

System Dynamics Society, Inc. is an international nonprofit professional membership organization founded around 1982 and headquartered in the United States (with a Las Vegas mailing address and San Diego registered office). It serves as the global hub for the System Dynamics methodology, a systems thinking and computer simulation approach developed by Jay W. Forrester at MIT. The society serves five primary personas: Practitioners, Researchers, Teachers, Learners, and Champions, alongside organizational members in healthcare, policy, education, and business. Its community structure includes 17 regional chapters spanning North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa, and South America, and 19 Special Interest Groups covering domains from Agriculture and Energy to Structural Racism and AI in SD Education.

The society's core offerings include the annual International System Dynamics Conference (ISDC), now in its 44th year, which functions as the flagship community anchor with hybrid in-person and online formats. Educational products comprise Summer School programs ($400-$600), an online course catalog with more than 80 learning options, the peer-reviewed System Dynamics Review journal, a monthly Seminar Series, and the Jay Forrester Seminar Series. Simulation tools and games distributed through the society include the En-ROADS climate model (755,000+ users), PRISM health simulator, COVID-19 Simulator, Beer Game, and Fish Banks. Recent 2025 product launches center on AI in SD Education, including a Custom GPT accessibility tool and an AI in SD Education Task Force white paper.

The society operates a diversified revenue model across recurring membership dues, conference ticket sales (ranging from $12 student virtual to $855 full in-person), education program fees, shop sales of books and games, Amazon affiliate commissions, and corporate/institutional sponsorships. Named sponsors span founding-tier partners such as TU Delft, MIT Sloan, Credit Human, Ventana Systems, and isee systems, through minor-tier sponsors including Simlin, Strategy Dynamics, TNO, and the Jack B. Homer Giving Fund. Distribution channels include a direct e-commerce storefront, Amazon FBA fulfillment, IngramSpark print-on-demand, and global shipping via DHL and Shippo. Governance is member-driven through a Policy Council with elected presidents, and the organization operates with a small 1-10 person staff.

Name

System Dynamics Society, Inc.

Legal name

System Dynamics Society, Inc.

Website

https://systemdynamics.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1985

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

System Dynamics Society is a global nonprofit professional membership organization, founded around 1982, serving practitioners, researchers, teachers, and learners of the System Dynamics methodology through annual conferences, publications, online courses, simulation tools, and 17 regional chapters worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association Services

NAICS

Business Associations (813910), Professional and Management Development Training (61143), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Technical Committees, Working Groups & Expert Panels (BPADANAB)

Keywords

• Systems thinking methodology
• Professional membership society
• Systems modeling conferences
• Simulation education
• Academic research publications

Headquarters

HQ city

Albany

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: Annual membership providing access to benefits including discounted conference registration, access to publications like the System Dynamics Review journal, member directory, networking through chapters and SIGs, and online course catalog access.
2. Conference Revenue: Annual International System Dynamics Conference ticket sales ranging from $12 (virtual student) to $855 (in-person full registration), with member discounts available.
3. Education Programs: Summer School courses (Introductory $400-$600, Intermediate), online course catalog with 80+ options, seminar series recordings, and degree courses.
4. Shop Sales: Direct sales of books (including Jay Forrester books), games (Beer Game, Fish Banks), society publications, board games, and digital products through the online store.
5. Affiliate Revenue: Amazon affiliate links for curated publications yield small affiliate amounts.
6. Sponsorships: Corporate and institutional sponsors support the society through various sponsorship tiers including founding sponsors and donor hall of fame recognition.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels10 records

Core offering

System Dynamics Society, Inc. is a private international professional membership organization that develops, curates, and disseminates the System Dynamics methodology. It sells annual memberships, hosts the annual International System Dynamics Conference (ISDC), runs Summer School training programs, publishes the peer-reviewed System Dynamics Review journal, distributes educational simulation games (Beer Game, Fish Banks), operates an online course catalog with 80+ courses, and sustains a global network of 17 regional chapters and 19 Special Interest Groups.

Product overview

System Dynamics Society is a professional membership organization that serves as the central hub for systems thinkers and modelers worldwide. The Society offers a portfolio of interconnected educational products and services: annual membership providing access to publications, conferences, and networking; the International System Dynamics Conference as its flagship annual event; simulation tools including En-ROADS, PRISM, and COVID-19 Simulator; educational games like the Beer Game and Fish Banks; the System Dynamics Review journal; Summer School programs; an Online Course Catalog with 80+ courses; and the Seminar Series. The Society also supports Special Interest Groups and regional Chapters for community building. Recent initiatives include the AI in SD Education Task Force exploring responsible integration of AI into System Dynamics education.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Society Membership Annual professional membership providing access to the System Dynamics Review journal, member directory, 19 Special Interest Groups, 17 regional chapters, and discounts on conferences and courses for systems thinking professionals, researchers, and educators.
• International System Dynamics Conference (ISDC) Premier annual hybrid conference in its 44th year, hosting practitioners, researchers, and educators presenting on systems modeling, simulation, and applications across industry, academia, government, and consulting. Tickets range from $12 (student virtual) to $855 (in-person full).
• Summer School Program Annual intensive online training program offering Introductory ($400-$600) and Intermediate level System Dynamics courses with pre-recorded lectures and live synchronous sessions, totaling approximately 40 hours of instruction and offline work. Members receive a $100 discount.
• Online Course Catalog Subscription-based catalog of 80+ online courses for learning System Dynamics methodology, accessible through membership or individual course purchase, covering beginner to advanced levels.
• System Dynamics Review Journal The Society's flagship peer-reviewed academic journal publishing original research on System Dynamics methodology and real-world applications, available to members and institutional subscribers.
• Beer Game Classic supply chain simulation board game originally developed at MIT, distributed by the Society, that teaches the bullwhip effect, supply chain complexity, and the value of leadership and information sharing.
• Fish Banks Game Role-playing board game for understanding resource management, cooperation, competition, and negotiation in managing shared natural resources.
• Society Publications Books and educational materials published by the Society, including Jay Forrester's foundational texts, the Billibonk children's series, and other System Dynamics literature sold via the online storefront and print-on-demand fulfillment.
• Seminar Series Monthly virtual webinar series featuring expert presentations on System Dynamics applications, modeling techniques, and practitioner case studies, with recordings made available to attendees.

Quantifiable outcome

• En-ROADS climate model has reached 755,000+ users for global warming scenario planning
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration9 records

AI capability8 records

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Climate Interactive: Creator of the En-ROADS climate simulator (755,000+ users) which is co-promoted by the System Dynamics Society. Functions as both a close partner and a parallel hub for systems-modeling engagement in the climate domain.
• Ventana Systems: Provider of Vensim system dynamics modeling software and a founding-tier society sponsor. Direct peer in the SD tooling ecosystem whose user base overlaps heavily with society members and conference attendees.
• MORS (Military Operations Research Society): Smaller professional society focused on operations research with a comparable model: membership dues, annual symposium, working groups (analogous to SIGs), and educational programs. Directly comparable as a niche-discipline professional society.
• isee systems: Provider of STELLA and iThink modeling software used by the System Dynamics community. A society sponsor and direct ecosystem partner whose tools are taught in Summer School and used across society projects; the most direct commercial peer in the SD tooling stack.

Broad incumbents

• ACM (Association for Computing Machinery): The largest international professional society for computing, with a comparable operating model: tiered membership, peer-reviewed journals, sponsored conferences, special interest groups, local chapters, and digital library of proceedings. Comparable in structure but serves the much broader computing discipline.
• IEEE: The world's largest technical professional organization, operating a near-identical model of membership dues, sponsored conferences, peer-reviewed journals, technical societies (analogous to SIGs), regional sections (analogous to chapters), and educational products. Much broader in technical scope but structurally the closest large-scale analogue.
• INFORMS: Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences - the larger professional society for OR/MS/analytics, of which System Dynamics is a subset. Comparable as a membership-based professional society running annual conferences (TIMS/ORSA/Tutorials in OR), peer-reviewed journals, chapters/societies, and continuing education - but broader in scope.
• Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM): Professional society for applied mathematics with analogous membership, conference (AN40+), peer-reviewed journals, activity groups (analogous to SIGs), and section structure. Comparable as a discipline-specific professional membership organization but with a broader applied-math mandate.

Emerging players

• Powersim Software: Provider of Powersim Studio, a System Dynamics simulation tool whose user group is moderated by a former SDS president. Direct peer in the SD tooling ecosystem serving a portion of the same practitioner base.
• Simlin: Browser-based system dynamics modeling tool and a current society sponsor. Emerging player in the SD tooling space offering a lower-friction alternative to STELLA/Vensim, overlapping with society members' tooling choices.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/systemdynamics_
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCZlM6xlE_al00biBTDdFyzA
• Facebookfacebook.com/systemdynamics
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/system-dynamics-society-inc-
• Instagraminstagram.com/systemdynamics_

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about System Dynamics Society, Inc.