Vision & strategy
European leadership in Software-intensive Systems and Services
– the future of embedded and distributed
software –
ITEA 2 will maintain the momentum established by ITEA and builds firmly on the success and lessons from ITEA.
Software is the key to the digital revolution that is an integral part of our industrial and societal future as we face up to the second wave in this digital transition. Responding to these revolutionary challenges, ITEA 2 maintains the successful principal vision of ITEA, updated to the new global context:
for Europe to maintain leadership in this new era of embedded Software-intensive Systems and Services, building on key European strengths and industries.
The new global context is based on the key competitive challenges for Europe:
- European R&D intensity is lagging critically behind our main competitors;
- The need to understand and master the lag between R&D and commercial innovation;
- Off-shoring is reaching an unprecedented level; and
- The European paradox – great science and technology but poor translation into products.
Dramatic shift to embedded SiS
The core challenge of ITEA 2 is to face up to the dramatic shift to embedded SiS that is affecting all aspects of everyday life:
- Rapid response to the exponential growth in electronics will lead to hundreds of thousands of new high-quality jobs in key European industries such as automotive and aeronautics;
- Growing interconnection of consumer electronic devices to provide myriad services in the home is placing great strains on software development – essential to keep high level work in Europe;
- The future of healthcare and medical systems is increasingly in the software that can speed diagnosis and treatment – essential for well-being and quality of life; and
- Manufacturing is changing rapidly, particularly with the emergence of the 'cyber' enterprise.
Key strategies
ITEA already advocated and championed a European Framework for Innovation, including supporting active public procurement policies, based on the experiences in the programme. Fostering innovation is a cornerstone of ITEA 2. It will principally follow successful proven ITEA strategies adapted to the new challenge and new context:
- Maintaining the principal ITEA game plan of changing the battleground in ICT primarily to embedded software and services for the 'SiS industries', building on key European strengths and industries such as automotive and consumer electronics;
- Mounting an industry-driven pre-competitive R&D&D initiative for a sustained build-up of European capabilities in software-intensive systems and services;
- Maximising and leveraging the growing importance of SMEs to increase the momentum of the initiative from an already high participation level in ITEA;
- Fostering and leveraging the impact of academia/research institutes, first of all in continuing the solid application-oriented grounding of the programme but, in addition, intensifying co-research and transfer; and, in addition,
- Pushing the envelope on programme agility aggressively across all levels and all procedures to address better the overarching issue of time-to-market.
ITEA 2 will continue to develop the ITEA Technology Roadmap that has been a distinct success factor in ITEA. And it will maintain a strong focus on application domains and supporting software production technology and tools.
Our vision and strategy are described in the ITEA 2 Blue Book: "European leadership in Software-intensive Systems and Services" dated September 2005 (see also other publications).
Sponsors and Partners
