Editorial

Dear ITEA Community,

This magazine is the last of 2023, ITEA's 25th anniversary year. In 1998, the idea of a Eureka Cluster dedicated to software innovation emerged, proposed by a group of industrial companies and strongly supported by the Netherlands, Germany and France. During these 25 years, the ITEA programme has been very active with almost 300 projects representing an effort of more than 30,000 person-years. The ITEA Community has grown to over 2,000 unique project partners representing large industry, SMEs, universities and research institutes in 37 countries worldwide, creating huge impact and changing businesses and lives. In the 2023 magazine issues, we have presented some discussions with leaders and a selection of the most iconic projects and how they have impacted business and society.

After 25 years, we can look back on the journey we have travelled and how much technology has progressed. Software innovation is even more central and crucial to our lives and developments today. The journey must continue. In this magazine, you will find an article highlighting some of the current challenges and important research directions.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary, the ITEA Community organised a full set of activities. We organised a roadshow with 11 countries with either online or physical meetings to present the ITEA programme and encourage the participation of new members. Another highlight was the live celebration of the anniversary in Berlin during the PO Days in September. It was a perfect opportunity to share the 25 years of ITEA video, cake and drinks with the 300 participants. What a difference from the first PO Days in 2000 with around 30 participants! This event showcased the lively ITEA Community with more than 80 project ideas discussed over these two days. Software innovation is really a must with the ongoing digital transformation, the adoption of AI technologies and the need to switch to a more sustainable economy and lifestyle.

In addition to articles related to the 25th anniversary, this magazine features Türkiye, which has been very active since joining ITEA in 2003. This participation has enriched the ITEA Community with very solid industrial companies and numerous innovative SMEs, leading to very successful projects. By reading this magazine, you can also learn more about ITEA Success stories of COMPACT and the TESTOMAT Project that enable us to develop more efficient software and to increase software production's productivity and quality. You will find examples of the digital transformation in industry thanks to new AI technologies and cyber security developments to increase the security and trust of digital infrastructures.

To conclude, this 25th anniversary year has demonstrated that the core values of the ITEA programme - our bottom-up approach, international cooperation, emphasis on standardisation, trans-sector Community and customer orientation - are key elements to tackle current challenges and to foster the software innovation which is the engine of our common and individual development.

I wish you a good reading of this very rich magazine issue.

Jean-François Lavignon