Using a Multi-sourced Methodology to Identify Challenges in Software Technologies Research.

The software industry has a great impact in the European Union's economy as reported in a study by the European Commission [1]. However, in spite of the importance that software has in Europe, there exist several barriers that could hamper its growth. An important one is related to research and development of software technologies, and more specifically the topics that should be funded by the public programmes and policies. The current paper presents a methodology designed with the aim of providing policy-makers with recommendations on the research challenges that should be prioritized. It is a three step methodology, out of which the first one is currently implemented, namely the identification of research topics, taking as input information coming from various sources such as landscape reports, analysis of academic venues, workshops and existing fundedprojects. The paper briefly details the main six challenges currently identified in the field of Software Technologies.