A NESSI Position Paper:
European Software Strategy
Foreword
Commissioner Viviane Reding rightly pointed out in her
speech at the Truffle 100 meeting in November 2007: “the
ability to produce software
is a strategic economic
capability”.
NESSI wishes to contribute to this economic capability with
its vision of a European Software Strategy. This paper was
elaborated by the NESSI Steering Committee and approved
by the NESSI Board.
June 2008
www.nessi-europe.eu
NESSI – the Networked European Software and Services Initiative – was launched as
a European Technology Platform in September 2005. Coordinated by 22 partners, it
unites a community of 300 organisations from industry and academia active in
Information and Communication Technologies. It plans to deliver NEXOF, the NESSI
Open Service Framework.
European Software Strategy
a NESSI Position Paper
June 2008
Page 2 of 23
Executive Summary
Software is an essential part of an increasing number of products and
solutions and is thus one of the main drivers of the European economy.
However, Europe’s position as a driver is not as strong as overall economic
figures would suggest. The European economy is competing in a global
market and a number of factors need to be addressed to improve its position.
Starting from Europe’s strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats
we analyze the future trends and the current picture of the emerging software
and systems landscape. Within this landscape, the development of the future
Internet and its networked and service oriented systems is one of the most
important drivers. Sensors, embedded devices and embedded systems will all
become easily accessible in the future Internet. This will enable enhanced
applications in various fields such as industrial design and manufacturing,
energy supply, retail, public sector. In this future, Open Source Software
(OSS) and open standards will increasingly be the keys to global success.
In th