As reported in the EC study “The Economic and Social Impact of Software & Services on Competitiveness and Innovation – (SMART 2015/0015) Final Study Report: “The software industry has a strong economic and social impact throughout the European Union. There is the direct economic contribution from this dynamic industry, its contribution to the wider economy through knowledge spillover and the provision of new technological possibilities, as well as its tremendous effects on society in general.” The contribution of software and the software-based services (SSBS) industry to the EU economy has been increasing in recent years in every dimension (employment, value added, and productivity).
Even though this provides an optimistic landscape, the same study identifies a set of ten barriers in the context of Software Industry that could decrease the growth for the upcoming years:
1. Lack of skills, lack of specialized IT and Internet experts
2. Lack of entrepreneurial spirit
3. Missing supporting services
4. Market fragmentation
5. Status-quo orientation of companies, incl. existing rules and governance structures in IT-using sectors
6. Trust, privacy, security
7. Policy strategies not suited to support ICT innovations
8. Not enough R&D
9. Not enough broadband access
10. Not enough support for open source software
To overcome these shortcomings the European Commission presents in the same study, a set of policy initiatives grouped in three categories, deriving in groups of policy related initiatives 1) for a more dynamic user landscape; 2) for better framework conditions;3) focus on enabling factors. The top 5 policy recommendations are to: enhance eskills
in Europe, support the adoption of ICT in the industry and service sectors, support open source software, increase trust in cloud computing and IT infrastructures, increase public R&D spending in the ICT area. SWForum.eu intends to support the Commission in their initiatives to resolve these impediments through a strong
set of complementary measures that directly and indirectly impact these policy recommendations by:
a) increasing the chances to enhance high level e-skills, bridging the gap between research and industry and contributing to the spread of niche knowledge (cybersecurity, infrastructure, artificial intelligence) between distinct experts promoting cross-fertilization between the areas of software, digital infrastructures, cybersecurity and AI,
b) creating a self-sustainable forum of researchers and practitioners in the software area,
c) providing guidance to the European Initiatives to improve the TRL,
d) enhancing the visibility of European based software technology projects,
e) supporting the Commission policy officers and stakeholders through the creation of the Innovation and research public roadmaps.
The main objective of SWForum.eu is raise awareness and strengthen the competitiveness of the European Software Industry - including the underlying digital infrastructures together with the needed security mechanisms - by facilitating a sustainable European forum for stakeholders representing scientific researchers, providers, developers, operators and policy-makers relevant to software technologies, digital infrastructures and cybersecurity, where assets can be shared (products, services, technologies), lessons learned, and policies developed, and facilitating engagement in the development of a set of research and innovation roadmaps for the Future Secure Digital Continuum through an online platform.
