Synthesis of a Software Engineering Framework for Open Innovation through Empirical Research

Open innovation (OI) involves a multitude of uncoordinated actors in open collaboration for product and service development. It plays a growing role in software development for ICT, e.g. in the Android eco-system. OI introduces several new challenges for software engineering (SE), such as the multitude of actors, lack of centralized control and shared goals, and high degrees of uncertainties. In order to develop software efficiently and effectively for OI, new or adapted methods, processes and decision support for cost-effective SE are needed.

The SYNERGIES program will build on and evolve a SE framework for OI through i) agile processes and practices, where the multitude of stakeholders adds to the complexity; ii) requirements engineering where no contracts between customers nor suppliers exists; and iii) software testing where the iterativeness demands test-driven development and regression testing.

The research will be conducted using empirical methods - case studies and experiments - on which the PIs have considerable international impact. However, the methodology needs to be enhanced to enable synthesis and theory building of existing knowledge.

The technical dimension of the proposed research is significant, since OI introduces new challenges to SE, and takes a growing share of development in the ICT sector. The methodological dimension is essential to leverage on the achievements by Swedish researchers, recognized in the international empirical SE community.