Part 4: Software Writing Expertise

In addition to participation in European projects in MEDEA+ and PIDEA, global co-operation, for example in committees or in research projects, will be of increasing importance for semiconductor and equipment manufacturers.The information society, with its increasing need for the efficient identification, processing and storage of information, has led to a rapid increase in the number of companies which devise and supply software and multimedia products. In addition to this fast growing primary software sector, the importance of software development is also coming more and more evident in all the secondary software sectors, where software has a growing presence in all processes (e.g. procurement), products (e.g. vehicles) and services (e.g. telecommunications, financial services). Software writing expertise has become the crucial key skill for competitiveness in virtually all sectors. (Among others, some of the) core tasks (…) lie in the field of embedded systems. In the vehicle sector in particular, this involves bringing individual systems together to form networked systems, and in the near future, a complex network of all IT modules and software modules in the vehicle. In today’s vehicle sector, innovative systems such as safety braking systems, energy-saving fuel injection systems, environmentally-friendly combustion, and safety systems such as airbags or online diagnostics systems would be inconceivable without complex software. They require a high level of software expertise. Software expertise will be one of the crucial factors determining whether, for example, the supplier industry in Europe can still be competitive in 5 to 10 years’ time. The current trend towards networked functions in vehicles (where, for example, the stability control system does not just activate the braking system but actively intervenes in the engine management system as well) has resulted in a further considerable increase in complexity. Similar situations have arisen in other transport applications such as the aeroplane and the train.
Next: Continuous Demand For New Application Systems