Presenters

Application of machine learning software as a mycelia network model for generative design and operation of self-reliant neighborhood infrastructure

Under the forest floor there is a sentient network that could be considered Mother Earth’s earliest crypto exchange. Comprised of mycorrhizal fungal threads inoculated into the root systems across vast distances and diverse species, the research has proven an electro-chemical signaling that conveys all manner of sustaining nutrients through this brokered fungal network. (1992 Dr. Suzanne Simard, UBC). Through this biomimetic lens, our Stanford University research (Prof. Larry Leifer, Chris Ford, James Ehrlich, Stanford University 2013) and subsequent spin-off ReGen Villages, have been developing the VillageOS™ software for the application of machine learning software to generatively design and subsequently operate bio-regenerative and resilient, self-reliant neighborhood infrastructure and retrofits. The inspiration derived from mycelia networks seeks to expose interconnected relationships of previously siloed systems and services, in order to model and optimize for climate adaptable communities that maximize natural ecosystem flourishing.

James Ehrlich is an Entrepreneur in Residence and Director of Sustainability at the Stanford University School of Medicine CCARE Institute (Center for Compassion, Altruism Research and Education, under Dr. James R. Doty).  Additionally, James is appointed Faculty at Singularity University, Senior Fellow at NASA Ames Research Center, and a White House / OSTP Appointee to a joint taskforce on Regenerative Infrastructure. 

Mr. Ehrlich is also the Founder of ReGen Villages Holding, B.V. a Stanford University spin-off formed in the EU as a Dutch impact-for-profit company, using machine learning software to address the U.N. 17 Sustainable Development Goals, specifically to provide solutions for affordable housing, climate change adaptability, and regenerative resiliency.

Mr. Ehrlich founded ReGen Villages in 2016, with its patent-pending VillageOS™ operating system software, using machine learning to design and operate bio-regenerative and resilient (self-reliant) neighborhood infrastructure and retrofits – integrating clean water, renewable energy  micro-grids, high-yield organic food, and circular nutritional flows at the neighborhood scale. To promote healthy long-term outcomes for residents and flourishing communities. 

A serial entrepreneur in Silicon Valley for over 25-years, James successfully founded and managed technology and media companies with successful exits. For nearly a decade, Mr. Ehrlich executive produced an award-winning national public broadcasting series based on his case study research of organic and bio-dynamic family farms, that at its apex reached over 35-million homes each week and is also the co-author of a best-selling companion book on Hachette, Organic Living THG (2007). 

James holds a Bachelor of Science from New York University and Master studies in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University. He has won several awards for sustainable design and is a researcher and global lecturer on the topic of regenerative neighborhood development. He has co-authored two (2) U.N. Sustainable Development Goal Platform Briefs (2015/2018) with Prof. Larry Leifer and Chris Ford (AIA) from the Center for Design Research at Stanford University.

ReGen Villages is an active member of the EU Commission on Smart Rural Villages, the EU Network for Rural Development, the New EU Bauhaus Roundtable, and appointed to the U.N. Climate Resiliency Lab, participating and presenting at both COP26 and COP27.