Software-Cluster researches and develops innovative services in the future Internet

Darmstadt – The Software-Cluster has begun work on innovative services in the future Internet: at the kick-off meeting of the project "Innovative Services in the Future Internet" a consortium of 17 partners from industry and academia came together in Darmstadt, Germany. Until 2014, a platform on which enterprises can create, offer and run services in the Internet of Services will be jointly developed. Such a platform will allow for completely new business models.

Enterprises - particularly small and medium-sized (SMEs) - want to participate in the Internet services and position their services profitably. However, usually SMEs are sufficiently missing specific economical and technical knowledge that is necessary for such involvement in the Internet of Services. The aim of the Software-Cluster project "Innovative services in the future Internet" is to develop a platform that will support the providers of services in the development of new business models with proven procedures, guidelines and templates, so they can position the offers on open market places. The project runs until 2014 and has a volume of around 20 million Euro.

"The project specifically addresses through appropriate tools the challenges of the technical implementation and operation of related services in the future Internet with which small and medium-size enterprises in particular see themselves confronted when participating in the Internet of Services", says Dr. Roger Kilian- Kehr, Head Software Engineering & Tools Practice, SAP Research. "We give priority attention to both technical as well as business aspects, drawing on the available results from the other Software-Cluster projects."

Michael Kleeberg, CTO of SEEBURGER AG and member of the strategy board of the Software-Cluster adds: "The research in the Software-Cluster plays a very important role for us. As an expert in business integration we bring our knowledge into the development of the next generation of business software and we benefit ourselves from the results – this is also the case in the project 'Innovative services in the future Internet'."

Already since 2010 the Software-Cluster runs such projects as "Fundamentals of Emergent Software" and "Process Innovation in the Software Industry". In the first project the basic principles of Emergent Software are developed - a new category of distributed, innovative information systems that arise across the enterprise from the interaction of individual components and services in the Internet and therefore have a higher quality performance. The project "Process Innovation in the Software Industry" is intended to help strengthen the competitiveness of software companies by developing economic methods for the management of innovative projects. Results gained from both projects lay the foundation for follow-uo research and development in the project "Innovative Services in the Future Internet".

The following companies and research partners from the cluster region are participating in the project "Innovative Services in the Future Internet": 1&1 Internet AG, AGT Group Germany, CAS Software AG, ConWeaver GmbH, CORISECIO GmbH, EUROSEC GmbH, the Fraunhofer Institutes for Visual Computing IGD, Secure Information Technology SIT and Technical and Business Mathematics ITWM, FZI Research Center for Information Technology in Karlsruhe, Insiders Technologies GmbH, intelligent views GmbH, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT, Ontoprise GmbH, SAP AG, Scheer Management GmbH, SEEBURGER AG, Software AG, TU Darmstadt.

The software cluster explores enterprise software as "operating system" for any company, whether suppliers or artisans, small entrepreneurs and world leaders. The Federation supports this request with a promotion as a cluster head in 2015 with up to 40 million euros, another 40 million euros will be contributed by the partners.

The enterprise software of tomorrow for the "Digital Enterprise" across industries worldwide will be developed in the Software-Cluster until 2015. The cluster spans around the centers of software development Darmstadt, Karlsruhe, Kaiserslautern, Saarbrücken and Walldorf. The Software-Cluster explores enterprise software as "operating system" for any company – whether they are suppliers, craftsmen, small-scale entrepreneurs or world market leaders. The German Federal Government supports the Software-Cluster in its "Leading-Edge Cluster" programme with up to 40 Million Euros until 2015; further 40 Million Euros will be contributed by the partners.

Download Press release as PDF