ITEA Office - ITEA Roadmap 3 press release

Release of the ITEA Roadmap for Software-intensive Systems & Services, 3rd Edition

Eindhoven, the Netherlands, 27 February 2009

ITEA Roadmap 3 - press release .doc bestand word-document - 100 kB

ITEA 2 today published the third edition of its Roadmap. The ITEA Roadmap is an open and structured vision of future uses of information and communications technology (ICT) and ICT-based services, and thus a tool for anticipating technology changes in software-related businesses. It demonstrates the potential of ITEA 2 to contribute significantly to European industrial competitiveness and societal well-being over the coming years.

The document explains the general evolutions in Software-intensive Systems and Services (SiSS) and identifies major roadblocks. As such, it serves as a tool to position research & development (R&D) and innovation projects, and to create innovation partnerships. Moreover, the roadmap is not static; it can develop and shift focus over time.

Roadmap 3 can be read as an announcement that future ITEA 2 projects will:

Pave the way towards ‘societal computing’ by addressing key societal issues such as health, energy, transport, knowledge and education;
Respond to the foreseeable end of Moore’s Law on the exponential increase in processing power by addressing the challenge of ‘massive scalability’;
Support the European industry to provide the market with end-to-end solutions including both products and services;
Contribute ICT-based innovations to ensure the competitiveness of jobs and businesses; and
Address greater sustainability and efficient use of scarce resources such as energy and water.

Maintaining European leadership
The new Roadmap reflects clearly the ITEA 2 vision that Europe must maintain leadership in software-intensive systems and services, building on key European strengths and industries. The various stakeholders – large industries, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), universities and research centres – share this vision as do the public authorities in the many countries that support the EUREKA Cluster programmes.
Roadmap 3 was produced by a group of senior experts that has tried to foresee the evolution of software-intensive systems & services and the underlying technologies.

The process was based on consensus, with the ITEA 2 companies involved nominating experts to the core team elaborating the document. All in all, more than 75 specialists and young talents in various industries and from major European universities and large research centres contributed to the development and validation of this document.

Open and structured vision
The ITEA Roadmap 3 sets out to provide an open and structured vision of future uses and services based upon deployment scenarios complemented by descriptions of related key categories of software technologies – see attachment for examples.

An important change in Roadmap 3 is the move from the technology/domain approach in the first two editions to a series of applications and services aimed at three types of user: Me – an individual entity, be it person, device or machine; Group – a collection of ‘Me’ or ‘Groups’ co-operating towards a common goal; and Society – an assembly of actors/ stakeholders achieving high-level societal or commercial objectives.

In addition, there are two pure software and information-technology domains that enable the existence of all these services. This is split into two transversal domains: Infrastructures and Basic Services (IBS): and Services, Systems and Software Creation (SSSC).

Start of a new era
“The current information technology era is coming to an end and being replaced,” says Jean-Luc Dormoy of CEA DRT. “We are reaching the limit of Moore’s law, we need to move from large systems to systems of systems, software requires brains and methods that we do not necessarily have, and we are facing challenges without precedent, so we now need breakthroughs.” Solutions will be needed to bypass or avoid this difficulty.

Large systems and systems of dynamically-configured systems addressing very high complexity and/or accommodating a multitude of users will need specific attention to arrive at full-scale deployment within societal constraints. This poses a fundamental system design issue.

Scenario examples:

Individualising functions in vehicles

Meeting the challenges outlined in the ITEA roadmap means that a range of new features could be incorporated into new cars and existing features used better to ensure the safety, security, reliability and comfort of vehicles on an individual basis. These same features will also be needed in coming generations of hybrid and electric cars.

John and wife Anne have two children: Stefan (15) and Sabrina (12). They buy a sporty-looking car able to carry the whole family together with all their luggage for holidays. The quality of the vehicle means it can be in service for a long time.
As the family drives to Italy on holiday, the car lighting system develops a fault. This is detected by the car’s diagnostic system and, via the navigation system, a short detour proposed to an appropriate garage –part of a European-wide infrastructure. There, the fault is fixed within a few minutes because the garage is pre-warned and could prepare all necessary actions.

For John’s next birthday, Anne selects an upgrade package for the car that offers much better pollution control while increasing the power of the car by nearly 25%, with more dynamic acceleration. This software package is delivered on a CD which John puts into the CD player of the car infotainment system to start the upgrade procedure via the central car control device.

A few years later, Stefan gets his driving licence and wants to use the family car. John installs another upgrade which allows him to limit parameters – such as acceleration and speed – via his palmtop. Stefan can now drive the car and get familiar with traffic until he has enough experience to use the vehicle in the same way as his father. John switches between the two settings via his key to have his normal car performance. John can also look at the navigation system to see the routes taken by Stefan.

Shortly before Sabrina gets her driving licence, John buys another car with even more features. However, performance configuration can be carried out using the same upgrade pack as in the previous car, allowing John to set up the new car the same way as the old one – allowing Sabrina to get familiar with car driving in the same safe way as Stefan did.

Making home living a breeze

Increasing society demand for communications means, digital entertainment, health, security and energy optimisation are driving the development of information technologies in the home. This involves a group made up of home inhabitants, entertainment and household devices, provisioning shop agents, utility and maintenance enterprises, cars and emergency intervention institutions.

Bob, Chantal and daughter Ann live in an intelligent home.

Heating and window-shade controls are coupled in an optimisation process aimed at reducing energy consumption while ensuring family comfort. The system has access to the personal digital assistants of the different family members and their daily agendas to know when they will be at home. This is complemented by real-time knowledge of their locations to adapt and anticipate the temperature requirements in each room. A learning mechanism makes it possible to take into account individual habits according to the time, the day of the week, etc, as well as their preferences – Ann needs a temperature lower than 18°C to sleep well. Connections to weather forecast servers are used to tune the heating and air conditioning, taking into account the inertia of the inside home environment with respect to external conditions.

The family decide to renovate their kitchen. To choose the furniture, they simulate the different options by selecting the different elements on constructor websites and projecting them in 3D in the kitchen. They are able to design themselves the final shape, colours and implementation of the products, which will be customised to their wishes.

A new air evacuator in the kitchen is automatically detected by the integrated home control system; its position and command possibilities are taken into account to optimise overall air circulation in the home. All new electrical devices are automatically integrated into the system monitoring and tracing energy consumption of the different equipment. The kitchen is also equipped with a video screen which is automatically discovered by the home network that manages the broadcast of video programmes to the different receivers. The video receiver also communicates with the different kitchen equipment to take into account their noise levels when they are switched on to adjust the volume to preserve the listening comfort in any circumstances.

Unfortunately a leak appears in the water pipe installation while all the family is absent. The leak is detected by the monitoring system, which warns Bob and Chantal using the proper medium according to their reachability information and alerts the enterprise in charge of maintenance that will be automatically granted a temporary right to access to the house to repair the leak.

About ITEA 2
ITEA 2 (Information Technology for European Advancement) stimulates and supports innovative and pre-competitive R&D projects that will contribute research excellence to Europe’s competitive Software-Intensive Systems and Services sector. SiSS are a vital growth engine for Europe’s economy and a key driver of innovation in Europe’s most competitive industries – such as automotive, aerospace, communications, healthcare and consumer electronics. ITEA 2 and its predecessor ITEA have a proven track record with major achievements and results in these industries.

ITEA 2 founding partners are: Airbus, Alcatel-Lucent, Barco, Bosch, Bull, Daimler, European Federation of High Tech SMEs, Italtel, Nokia, Philips, Siemens, Telefonica, Telvent, Thales and Thomson.

As a EUREKA Cluster programme, ITEA 2 supports coordinated national funding submissions within the EUREKA framework. The programme is open to partners from large industrial companies, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), research institutes and universities.

As one of the main EUREKA Cluster programmes, ITEA 2 has close links with other EUREKA Clusters and the European Union Framework Programmes. ITEA 2 projects are supported financially by all member countries of the EUREKA framework.

For more press information, please contact:

Kay Jeunhomme
ITEA 2 Office
PR & Communications
Tel: +31 88 003 6136
Fax: +31 88 0036130
Email: kay.jeunhomme@itea2.org