The purpose of this call for tenders is to review and update the findings of a previous study on the "Economic & social impact of Software & Software-based Services" (SMART 2009/0041) carried out between April 2009 and August 2010. The main objectives of this previous study (SMART 2009/0041) were to:
- Provide quantitative information and analysed the current situation (2009) of the European software industry.
- Propose a set of policy actions in the area of software technologies that would raise the barriers to growth & competitiveness.
- Analyse the social & economic impact of the proposed policy actions in order to provide certain policy recommendations.
The revision and update of the findings of the SMART 2009/0041 study is necessary because from 2007 till today, the global financial crisis and new technological and market trends – which led to a big "innovation wave" - had a strong impact on the European software industry and forced almost every company to redefine its strategy and organization.
This current call for tenders (SMART 2015/0015) should revise and update of the findings of SMART 2009/0041 and should also focus on the development of a framework for assessing the impact of software developed by companies not considered within the software industry (e.g. automotive & aerospace industry, financial sector, internet-based retail & social media companies) on their product and services. Such framework should focus on the impact of such software development on product & service innovation and on the competitiveness of these industries. In this context, the role of open source software should be considered as well.