R&I collaboration program for efficient software development

Software development is an increasingly important component of all innovation in both the private and public sectors. IT & Telecom companies, Teknikföretagen and Swedsofts have a common vision that Sweden will strengthen its position in software development

The aim is to make software development ten times more efficient by 2020, which means broadly keeping pace with hardware development. Together, we have therefore produced a document in which we present our proposals to achieve this. The proposal will serve as an input to the government's work on the upcoming research and innovation bill.

We note that world-class knowledge environments and a good supply of skills are crucial to attracting business investment and ensuring competitive Swedish software development, and propose the following:

An industry-driven cross-sectoral R&I collaborative program should be designed for effective software development. This would ensure a broad base of expertise in software development that can meet the needs of businesses and the public sector, strengthen the knowledge environment and make it more attractive for global companies to invest in Sweden. The government's contribution to an R&I collaboration program for effective software development should be in the order of SEK 100 million per year for four years. Extensive co-financing from the business sector is reasonable and could increase the volume to around SEK 200 million per year.

A national research agenda for effective software development should be developed as the basis for a collaborative R&I program. This should be formulated by the relevant authorities,
companies, universities and stakeholder organizations.