A new position paper authored by an ERCIM task group highlights the crucial role of software technology, development, and maintenance in securing Europe’s economic prosperity. The document calls for greater investment and attention to this often-overlooked area, stressing its foundational importance across industries and innovation.
Current Challenges
Europe's digital sovereignty strategy currently emphasizes hardware, neglecting vital investments in higher-level software. While European initiatives in chip design and hardware are essential, the most significant economic value increasingly originates from software-centric platforms. Europe’s insufficient software capabilities make it dependent on foreign solutions. Without strengthening its own software ecosystem, Europe risks commoditisation of its hardware investments and loss of strategic autonomy.
Intermediate high-level software—including libraries, frameworks, and operating systems—is critical to developing competitive applications. However, industry typically regards this foundational software as non-value-adding, leading to underfunding despite its crucial role. Consequently, no major production-grade operating system is currently developed in Europe, creating a strategic gap in Europe's technology stack.
Experimental software research, essential for innovations, also suffers from inadequate support. Such research typically receives funding as a secondary element within larger projects, limiting researchers’ capacity for genuinely explorative work. Europe’s software R&D expenditure is considerably lower than competitors, approximately one-tenth of the US and one-third of China, threatening Europe’s competitive position globally.
Vision for Europe's Software Future
The document proposes strategic shifts to secure Europe’s digital sovereignty:
- Software Research Leadership:
Dedicated funding should enable high-risk, explorative software research, particularly leveraging AI advances (including generative AI). Such focused research would foster transformative innovation, positioning Europe as a global leader in next-generation software development. - Software Production Leadership:
Europe must invest in commodity software developed within the EU, ensuring alignment with European regulatory standards. Public funding for commodity software can effectively train software professionals, enhance industry innovation, and lower development costs, thus bolstering Europe's global competitiveness. - Software Maintenance Leadership:
Sustained maintenance of critical software is vital, as software rapidly becomes obsolete without regular updates. Europe must actively maintain critical open-source software, ensuring longevity, continuous knowledge retention, and smooth technology transfer from research to industry.
Open-Source Software as a Strategic Asset
Open-source software significantly contributes to Europe's GDP, providing high returns by reducing vendor lock-in and facilitating collaboration between academia and industry. Nevertheless, Europe lags behind the US in open-source development, as US-based projects often receive substantial contributions from large corporations. Greater European involvement in global open-source governance would enhance strategic influence, benefiting European companies, startups, and SMEs.
Call to Action
To realize this vision, the document urges continuous and targeted public investment in software research, commodity software development, and maintenance. It specifically recommends matching new EU regulations on AI, sustainability, and privacy with dedicated software funding initiatives. Such sustained investment would help Europe reclaim a leadership role in software, promoting economic resilience and digital independence in a competitive global landscape.
The full paper, including the list of contributing task group members and references, is available from the ERCIM web site for download at https://www.ercim.eu/publications/strategic-reports.
