Europe needs strong software research

Software research was identified as the top strategic area for public research investment during Clinton's administration. European software research has a very strong international standing and track record in treating software as a thing in its own right: something that gets built, controls the physical environment, facilitates -- not just aids -- digitalization and, most of all, needs to be predictable and guaranteed safe and secure. Yet it is still treated as an appendix to hardware in European research programs, even though their roles have de facto reversed. Will European research funding agents, stakeholders and industrial decision makers habitually continue to think of a car as an electro-mechanical devise with some embedded software -- or recognize it is a software-controlled computer with peripheral devices, where the software is the key component?

I strongly support this petition!!

As an Irish citizen working in a Scottish university, I'd like to contribute to strong European software research.

We need strong funding in AI, automation and the creative industries.

Let's do it now for a better tomorrow.

We need strong investment in software research to ensure that EU does not fall behind in the world.

Research on the foundations of future reliable and resilient software systems is fundamental for Europe. Investing in it should be a priority.

This is a very important initiative. Indeed, software is perceived by research policy makers and funders in Europe as a "solved problem", a commodity, something that is for granted. But it is not. In this day and age when we have become super dependent on IT systems in all spheres of life, trustworthiness of software is more critical than ever. The complexity and volumes of modern software pose unprecedented scalability requirements on software technologies. Algorithms for privacy, security, explainable AI etc will let us down in catastrophic ways if we cannot get them implemented correctly and accountably.

The scientific study of the foundations of reliable software and software construction is essential. Such research can be inspired, but should not be dominated, by innovations in its application domains.

We need more yellow teamers in cybersecurity

Software has always been the poor relation of Computer Science, while however software is really everywhere. Europe has to admit that it is starting to lag behind in this field and has to reorganize its priorities to support more research in software engineering.

EAPLS: The European Association for Programming Languages and Systems stimulates software research in Europe, by disseminating information, supporting software conferences, and awarding excellent research.

Software is critical for today's society, and software research is essential to move the software engineering field forward!

The European Association for Programming Languages and Systems stimulates software research in Europe, including the dissemination of information and the organisation of conferences. https://eapls.org

This is an urgent topic: software pervades our lives, while software research funding in Europe is scarce at best.

Research Engineer

SPILEn is a startup coming from the academic world that tries to bring innovation in software engineering. Without adequate research funding, it is futile to think that we can make major advances in software engineering. And nevertheless, software engineering is one of the keystones of tomorrow's society. We must absolutely support research in this field!

Europe is home to the expertise that is required to lead and drive innovation in software.

Software is not magic. It has to evolve to meet changing society. We need more research on improving software decay and evolution.

It is very urgent: Europe needs strong software research