Software as a Driver to Maximise Growth Potential
The strategic importance of software has long been acknowledged, but it is only in the last years that the economy and industry are experiencing a radical transformation where many product and service functions are defined by software (software-defined everything). This session will provide a thoughtful perspective of key issues facing this vital sector for our economy. In particular, it will address the following aspects:
- Assessing the potential economical impact of software and services and on the elements and actions that will be determine its relevance in the medium term.
- Understanding how breakthroughs research in software engineering can help in the development of new impactful software and services.
- Establishing the role and potential of open source software as driver of innovation and new business value.
- Discussing about the role of developers in the new scenarios and about tools and approaches that can help them in producing better quality software.
The session will consist of four presentations, each focusing on one of the themes listed above.
Detailed Workshop Outline
In the first presentation, titled The economic impact of software & services on competitiveness and innovation, Frank Niemann, Vice-President Software & SaaS Markets, Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) GmbH will focus on:
- The potential economic impact of Software and Services and the expected market transformations within the context of emerging Internet and data-driven Technologies,
- the elements that are determinant for growth and competitiveness of the European software and services industry and European industry in general, and
- the actions needed to achieve that economic impact based upon those determining factors.
In the second presentation, titled Innovation Potential of Software Technologies in the context of Horizon 2020, Mike Hinchey, Director at Lero-the Irish Software Research Centre and Professor of Software Engineering, University of Limerick will focus on the Innovation Potential of Software. There are few areas of modern life in which software is not an important (though often invisible) component. Millions of lines of software are used every day many diverse areas from Agriculture to Automotive Systems (including, but not limited to, self-driving cars), Entertainment to Disaster Recovery, FinTech (Finance) to Medicine (both research and treatment). Software is also the major source of innovation and advancement in a large number of areas that are current “hot topics”, such as Internet of Things, Data Science, Big Data, Gamification, Hybrid Cloud Computing and 3D Printing.
In the third presentation, titled Open Source Made in Europe: The Delivery Challenge And How To Address, Cédric Thomas, CEO, OW2 will focus on the Open Source Software (OSS) as a business strategy. More specifically, Dr. Thomas will present the most relevant Free Software and Open Source Models, Lessons from the Software Value Chain and will then propose a proactive OSS Strategy for Collaborative Projects.
In the fourth and final presentation, titled The era of the developer has come, Xavier Poisson, Vice-President, HPE will focus on the era of the developer that is upon us. His talk will touch aspects such as:
- application platforms and tools for trusted app verification
- application portability…an old idea in containers
- play fast and slow. How agile developments meets trusted IT.
The presentations will be followed by a discussion. In this phase attendees will be encouraged to express their opinions on the subjects discussed in the session and to direct comments and questions to the speakers. The results of this discussion will be recorded in a written document and posted on NetFuture website.
Structure of the session:
9:30 Introduction, Moderator: Professor Elisabetta Di Nitto, Politecnico di Milano (presentation)
9:35 Presentations
- The economic impact of software & services on competitiveness and innovation,
Frank Niemann, Vice-President Software & SaaS Markets, Pierre Audoin Consultants (PAC) GmbH (presentation) - Innovation Potential of Software Technologies in the context of Horizon 2020, Mike Hinchey, Director at Lero-the Irish Software Research Centre and Professor of Software Engineering, University of Limerick (presentation)
- Open Source Software Made in Europe: How to Improve the Current State Open Source and business models, Cédric Thomas, CEO, OW2 (presentation)
- The era of the developer has come, Xavier Poisson, Vice-President, HPE (presentation)
10:30 Discussion, Questions
Session Speakers
Elisabetta has published on the most important journals and conference proceedings in the area of software engineering. She has been associate editor of IEEE TSE, general chair of ESEC/FSE 2015 and program co-chair of ASE 2010 and ServiceWave 2010. She is currently member of the SIGSOFT Executive Committee.
She has been contributing to various projects, funded by the Italian ministry for scientific research and by the European Commission. The most recent projects are MODAClouds (where she acted as coordinator) focusing on the design and operation of multi-cloud, DICE (where she is acting as Scientific Director) focusing on the QoS-aware design of data intensive applications, SeaClouds focusing on simplifying deployment and operation of cloud applications.
Areas of expertise:
• Business application software (ERP, CRM, HCM, SCM, etc.)
• Software as a service (SaaS)
• Platform as a service (PaaS)
• Big data & business intelligence
• Digital transformation
• Enterprise content management
• IT security
Education: Master’s Degree in Computer Science – University of Applied Sciences – Augsburg, Germany.
He has held various sales management positions in the IT industry, including 17 years at HPE.
Xavier Poisson is also a recognized keynote speaker at Cloud Computing conferences and events.
He graduated from the ESCP Europe Management School.