How to develop complex software systems?

In 2012, the government will present a new research and innovation bill. This is a very important document, because it will set the direction for a large part of Sweden's publicly funded research in the coming years. The bill will also answer questions such as what areas should be researched and how much money should be allocated? And who should get the money - Vinnova, universities, research institutes, etc.

For many years, IT development has been a flagship industry in Sweden. Innovative IT solutions in products and systems have created benefits for customers in all sectors of society. At its core, there is always a craft, the actual program development, and this is obviously crucial to the quality, robustness and security of the entire solution.

Today we are increasingly seeing how program development is being outsourced to other countries, where there is often just as good expertise as here at home but at a significantly lower cost. We often say, somewhat exaggeratedly, that it is only the simple programming that is outsourced and that we have innovations and systems knowledge left in IT companies or R&D departments in Sweden, but that is not really true anymore. To be competitive, we need to increase both productivity and quality in the system development itself; have more efficient development methods, become better at usability, have better quality assurance systems, etc. And we simply need research on this - it's not something we can just take for granted that we can do. That is why we, together with Teknikföretagen and Swedsoft, have made an input to the upcoming research and innovation bill.

Today, industrial companies, banks, the transport sector and the public sector all depend on large, complex software systems. Of course, applied research is needed in various application areas, but we must not forget the basic craft - the actual system development. Without knowledge of how best to develop complex software systems, we will be left behind in international competition.