‘Software is everywhere, but is it trustworthy?’
Leading academic Professor Lionel Briand, director of Lero and Professor of Software Engineering at University of Limerick, on the future of software
Professor Lionel Briand, Director of Lero Pictures: Brian Arthur
Software underpins every aspect of our lives - from healthcare to transport to our work and our social interactions - and it is only becoming more pervasive. Professor Lionel Briand is a world leader in trustworthy software and Artificial Intelligence research and is the new director of Lero, the Science Foundation Ireland Research Centre for Software, headquartered at University of Limerick. Here, he tells UL Links why software research has never been more important.
Software has an enormous impact on societies and economies worldwide. Not only must software work efficiently and effectively, it must also be dependable, responsible and trustworthy.
“Software is a critical driver of our modern world’s prosperity, wellbeing, and safety, though it is largely invisible to the wider public,” says Professor Briand.
“It can and does play a key role in mitigating and resolving some of the major challenges of our time. For example, smart autonomous software helps save energy and reduce pollution through efficient algorithms and control systems. Intelligent transportation system and smart grids contribute to sustainability. Automating time-consuming tasks helps reduce human errors and make businesses more competitive.
“Software has also revolutionised communication, for example through video conferencing, bridging geographical gaps and enabling people to efficiently connect, with enormous impact on telemedicine, remote work, and international collaboration. Software is also an essential tool to analyse big data enabling better decision making in business, finance, healthcare, engineering, and science in general.
“A fundamental assumption is that software systems must be dependable. They must be safe, reliable and secure. We must be able to trust them to achieve what we expect of them, in a way that provides the solutions we want. To ensure this happens, software development must be carried out responsibly so that it effects people’s lives for the better. Software engineering is an essential research and innovation discipline to ensure systems address users’ and society’s needs in a dependable and trustworthy way,” he explains.
Our ability to deliver dependable software efficiently needs to ramp up to remain aligned with the needs of industry and society
Working with a centre like Lero is a way to de-risk innovation
But the challenges don’t end there.
“Software must also be developed efficiently to meet increasing demand with limited resources in terms of qualified labour force, in a highly-competitive industrial landscape. Only software research can address these challenges in a context where technology and applications are continuously evolving, sometimes in a disruptive manner,” he adds.
The most recent figures show that more than 170,000 people are directly employed in the ICT industry in Ireland and Professor Briand recognises that effective strategic partnerships between research centres like Lero and industry are critical for Ireland’s economic growth.
“I have always worked closely with industry and Lero has an excellent record of industry collaboration. We understand the value of partnership and there are many reasons businesses want to work with us. Some companies, for example in the automotive, agritech and biomedical sectors, rely on software for innovation but do not necessarily have a critical mass of highly-qualified specialists to address these challenges because software development is not their core business. Not only that but the rapid change in technology, like the recent growth in AI, combined with emerging new application domains, means addressing challenges is complex and requires continuous research-based innovation. Lero provides relevant expertise and talent, people who are specifically trained to innovate, to complement the human expertise industry has at its disposal.
“Working with a centre like Lero is a way to de-risk innovation. Indeed, companies, who already face a shortage of qualified personnel, cannot dedicate their best engineers to research and innovation, even when they have the required expertise, to address acute software engineering challenges. Teams of university experts, with the help of talented graduate students, can do so at a fraction of the cost thanks to the support of Science Foundation Ireland and other sources of funding,” he explains.
While the environment in which software is developed is rapidly changing, Professor Briand believes software development challenges have remained much the same: difficulty in identifying users’ requirements; coping with frequent changes to these in the development process; quality assurance of complex systems with constrained resources; ineffective communications; a need for scalability of software; creating software that can evolve effectively as requirements and technology change; and the need for human-centric design.
“All these challenges need to be addressed, through research and innovation, for many industries to remain competitive and society to fully benefit from software. Our ability to deliver dependable software efficiently needs to ramp up to remain aligned with the needs of industry and society. The work of Lero has never been so important and I’m delighted to lead it at this exciting time,” he concludes.
