Bio

César A. Hidalgo is a Chilean-Spanish-American scholar known for his contributions to economic complexity, data visualization, and applied artificial intelligence.

Hidalgo leads the Center for Collective Learning at the Artificial and Natural Intelligence Institute (ANITI) of the University of Toulouse and the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies at Corvinus University of Budapest. He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Manchester.

Between 2010 and 2019 Hidalgo led MIT’s Collective Learning group. Prior to working at MIT, Hidalgo was a research fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. Hidalgo is also a founder of Datawheel, an award winning company specialized in the creation of data distribution and visualization systems. He holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Notre Dame and a Bachelor in Physics from Universidad Católica de Chile.

Hidalgo’s contributions have been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2018 Lagrange Prize and three Webby Awards. Hidalgo's is also the author of dozens of peer-reviewed papers and of three books: Why Information Grows (Basic Books, 2015),  The Atlas of Economic Complexity (MIT Press, 2014), and How Humans Judge Machines (MIT Press, 2021).

TIMELINE:

2019-Today: Director, Center for Collective Learning, ANITI, TSE-R, IAST, University of Toulouse;
2019-Today: Visiting Professor, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University
2019-Today: Honorary Professor, Alliance Manchester Business School, University of Manchester,
2015-2019: Director of Collective Learning Group, Associate Professor, MIT
2010-2014: Director of Collective Learning Group, Assistant Professor, MIT
2008-2010: Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University
2004-2008: PhD Student in Physics, University of Notre Dame
1998-2003: Bachelor in Physics, Universidad Católica de Chile

PHOTOGRAPHS:

Need more pictures? Or want a high-res version of some of these? Try this link or this link.

AWARDS:

One-hour documentary filmed for Chilean Network Television in 2016 by La Ventana Cine y CNTV (in Spanish).

Individual Awards:

(2020) WSAI community's top 50 Innovators in 2020
(2019) Centennial Medal, University of Concepción
(2019) ChileMass Award
(2018) Lagrange Prize
(2017) Twenty Most Influential Latinos in Technology, C-NET
(2015) Technological Person of the Year, Chiletec
(2013) Young Global Leader, World Economic Forum
(2011) Bicentennial Medal of Science, Congress of Chile
(2008) Computational Science & Visualization Award, University of Notre Dame
(2007) Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Notre Dame

Project Awards

(2018) Webby Award: Best Use of Machine Learning: Streetchange,
(2018) Webby Award: Best Government and Civil Innovation Site: DataAfrica,
(2018) Indigo Design Award: DataChile
(2017) Webby Award: Best Government and Civil Innovation Site: DataUSA
(2016) Information is Beautiful Award: Best Commercial Project: DataUSA


Here you can find a documentary (in Spanish) shot in 2016 describing some of my life and work.