News

The final results of the Finnish Software Industry Survey 2009 have been published

November 13, 2009 –  The final results of the survey have been published.

See the results.

The first results of the Finnish Software Industry Survey 2009 have been published

September 8, 2009 –  The essential findings of the annual software industry survey have been published. The survey's objective is to provide information about the current state of the Finnish software industry and the companies. During 2009 the main focus is on the impact of recession on software firms.

According to our survey, despite of the recession, software business sustained well, and the industry grew 8,7%. The significance of software is growing constantly: hundreds of millions of Euros are used on research and development of software outside the software industry, and majority of the technology intensive firms see the role of software development growing. International sales growth slowed down in 2008. According to our findings, Finnish software industry does not capture new market share in 2009, but the growth rate of the industry is above global average, and companies are internationalizing earlier and smaller year by year.

Press release and press conference slides for the year 2009 are available for downloading in Finnish. Press conference is also available for watching here.

The Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 report has been updated

July 17, 2009 –  The Annual Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 (Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2008) report has been updated to include a section on embedded software industry in Finland. The reports is available for download here.

The National Software Industry Survey 2009 has been launched

June 18, 2009 –  The National Software Industry Survey 2009 (Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2009) has been launched. In case you are running a software company in Finland and have not heard from us, please click here.

The first version of the Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 report is available

December 31, 2008 –  The first version of the Annual Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 (Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2008) final report is available for download here.

The first results of the Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 have been published

August 28, 2008 –  The first results of the Annual Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 (Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2008) have been published. The press conference slides and the press relase can be downloaded here.

Software Business Community website launched

June 20, 2008 –  The Software Business Community (SWBC) website has gone live at http://swbcommunity.org.

SWBC is an online community connecting academics, industry managers, practitioners, and end-users globally. It provides a forum where individuals and organizations with various complementary perspectives, such as suppliers and service providers, can come together to create and archive a relevant body of knowledge. One of the aims of the community is to collectively author a peer-reviewed book on software business that will be made freely available on the Internet. 

As of June 2008, SBL is also proud to announce that Fisher IT Center at Haas School of Business at UC-Berkeley has become a sponsor of the SWBC site. Click here to see their announcement. 

The site originates from SBL's Software Business Foundations project, which is funded by Tekes and six partners from the Finnish software industry (F-Secure Plc, Ixonos Technology Consulting Ltd, Nexit Ventures Ltd, Proha Plc, Ravensoft Ltd, and Tekla Plc).  

For more information, please contact the SBF team or the site administrators.

Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 launched

May 30, 2008 – The Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 (Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2008) has been launched. Finnish software companies will receive their questionnaire by mail this week or in the beginning of the next week.

The survey's objective is to provide information about the current situation of the Finnish software companies. The main focus in the survey is in growth and internationalization of companies. More information on how the data and results are used can be found at the website of the survey. Reports of previous years' surveys can be found here.

"The better and more in-depth understanding about the determinants of growth and internationalization enables the direction of development measures more accurately thus improving the situation of software businesses in Finland. Thus answering to the questionnaire of this survey offers all our software firms in Finland a chance to a better future", says Markus Suomi, the CEO of the fast and steadily growing software firm, Flander Oy.

The annual Finnish Software Industry Survey is coordinated and implemented by the Software Business Laboratory (HUT), the Software Product Development Research Group of the University of Turku, and Tampere University of Technology.

To participate in the survey and for more information, visit Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2008 website, contact the research team, or read the press release (only in Finnish).

Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008

May 27, 2008 – The Annual Finnish Software Industry Survey 2008 (Oskari 2008) has begun. This year the survey focuses on growth and internationalisation of Finnish software firms.

The survey is conducted by SBL together with Software Product Development Research Group of University of Turku, and Tampere University of Technology.

For more information, please read the press release and visit the Oskari 2008 website.

New Professor of Software Product Business

February 8, 2008 – SBL is proud to announce that a new Professor of Software Product Business has been nominated. D.Sc. (Tech.) Jussi Autere will commence as Professor (pro tem) on March 1, 2008.

Dr Autere’s main responsibilities at SBL will include supervising doctoral dissertations, master’s theses and bachelor’s theses, as well as teaching. He will also coordinate the lab’s research.

Dr Autere is most known as the founder and owner of Gearshiftgroup, a management consulting and M&A advisory firm serving technology companies. His background also includes teaching and lecturing at Institute of Strategy and International Business and SoberIT here at Helsinki University of Technology. He defended his doctoral dissertation, titled “The Impact of Referents on Entrepreneurship: Growth of Small and Medium Sized Software Companies in Three Finnish Regions” at the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management in 2005.

SBL team and BIT Research Centre wish Dr Autere a very warm welcome!

Interdisciplinary workshop conducted in VASPO project

February 8, 2008 – As part of the VASPO project, SBL conducted an interdisciplinary workshop on the alignment of company's core capabilities with customer value models at the University of Jyväskylä on January 16, 2008.

The workshop was held with representatives from the software development industry, academia, the TEKES funding agency for technology and moderated by SBL's senior researcher Nilay Oza.

SBL presented a tool based on Quality Function Deployment (QFD) to elicit and map customer value propositions and company's core capabilities. Through the use of the tool support, all attendees could simultaneously engage in the Quality Function Deployment process and provide immediate feedback.

SBL wishes to thank the host university of Jyväskylä for their invitation and all attendants for their valuable contributions.

Vacancy: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

January 29, 2008 (updated March 3, 2008) – SBL is inviting an application for a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Software Business Foundations project. Here are some of the details, please read the full poster as well:

Starting date: as soon as possible, 1 year contract with possibility of renewal

You will conduct inter-disciplinary research to address software business related research issues (SB Foundations project). You will deduce theoretical knowledge from management, sociology, economics, and marketing contributing towards development of software business research.

You should hold a doctoral degree in a management-related subject, economics and/or MIS with research interest in business and global software industry. You will publish in tier A journals and any demonstrable publication record is a plus.

The closing date/time for applications is 16:00 (UTC+2) on Friday, 28 March 2008. The contact person in this matter is Dr Nilay Oza.

Vacancy: Doctoral Researcher

January 29, 2008 – SBL is inviting an application for a Doctoral Researcher to study internationalization patterns of Finnish software firms. Here are some details, please read the full poster as well:

The position is funded jointly by SBF - the Software Business Foundations project and OSKARI – the Annual Finnish Software Industry Survey. The research will utilize longitudinal data gathered in OSKARI through its ten-year history and use it to verify theoretical knowledge from SBF. There will also be and opportunity to contribute to the OSKARI 2008 survey.

The applicant should have a relevant master’s degree in a management-related subject or economics of MIS completed with excellent grades. Good interpersonal skills including excellent command over oral and written English is required, as well as an ability to work both independently and as part of a team.

The work will start as soon as possible. The contract will be until the end of 2008 with possibility of renewal.

The closing date for applications is 20 February 2008. For more information, including the preferred content of your application, please read the poster. The contact person in this matter is Juhana Peltonen.

Internationalization clinic will start soon

January 15, 2008 – Deadline for registration to internationalization clinic will be January 27, 2006. Students should register both in webtopi and by filling in information form. More information and links to registration can be found in course website.

Master's Thesis opportunity at SBL

January 11, 2008 – SBL is seeking a Master's Thesis student to write their thesis with us and an industrial partner. The thesis will concentrate on solving the challenge of building an international virtual community around software product development and innovation.

For more information, read the poster or contact SBL's Aku Valtakoski. The deadline for applications is January 25, 2008.

New Head for SBL

January 9, 2008 –Software Business Lab has a new head of laboratory from January 1, 2008 onwards. Director of BIT Research Center, D.Sc. (Tech.) Hannu Yrjölä commences as head of laboratory. The previous head of laboratory, Professor Jyrki Kontio, returns to work in software industry.

Dr Yrjölä: “As the Director of BIT Research Center, personal research is part of my work. I will now direct my own research to software business, which I have conducted in the commercial front for more than ten years. Jyrki Kontio has done excellent work in developing the laboratory and I am excited to step into his shoes.”

Software Business Lab is one of the largest units of BIT Research Center and its research is internationally respected. Professor Emeritus David G Messerschmitt from University of California, Berkeley, also works in the laboratory, bringing its research a wide international contact surface.

Dr Jyrki Kontio will continue his support to SBL through project level steering group memberships, and thus the change will not affect substantially the laboratory’s operations.

More information:
Hannu Yrjölä, tel. 050-1870
Olli-Pekka Mutanen, tel. 0400-444609

You can also read this notice in pdf format and in Finnish.

SBL Seminar a great success

December 14, 2007 – SBL's seminar Software Business Capabilities - A Critical Business Success Factor in the Internet Age on December 11, 2007, was great success.

Here are the presentations. For more, please check back soon. This news item will be updated.

• Introduction to the Seminar Day; Petteri Vainikka, Researcher, TKK/SBL
• Dynamic Capabilities, Core Competencies, and Strategies in Software Business: What do you need to know to create a winning strategy?; Expert panel. Background material.
• Financing Software Business Growth; Artturi Tarjanne, General Partner, Nexit Ventures
• Opportunities for the Ambitious Software Entrepreneur; Keith Bonnici, TEKES
• Professor Jyrki Kontio, TKK/SBL

Growth Forum '08

November 28, 2007 – The Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association together with Microsoft have started a national project which aims at advancing the growth and internationalization of Finnish software industry. In addition, the project offers funding and networking opportunities in both national and international level.

Growth Forum '08 includes three seminars focusing on issues in software industry, e.g. state of the information society in 2015, availability and management of skilful workforce and entrepreneurship. There will also be special workshops for growth issues, focusing on financing and networking. Results of the Growth Forum '08 will be published in 2008.

The Steering Group, which runs the Growth Forum '08, comprises of representatives of ten organizations, including SBL. The Steering Group is chaired by Ari Rahkonen from Microsoft, with Matti Heikkonen from The Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association as vice-chairman. Other members are Petri Niemi, Capman; Jari Sarasvuo, Satama / Trainers House; Leena Mörttinen, Nordea; Aino-Maija Fagerlund, Frends Oy; Pekka Pere, Proha Oyj; Jyrki Kontio, Teknillinen korkeakoulu; Mikko Kosonen, Sitra; Olli Martikainen and Jyrki Ali-Yrkkö, ETLA and Keith Bonnicci, Tekes; as well as Ismo Suikkanen and Mikko Alkio, Microsoft.

For more information, read the press release or articles in Tietoviikko and Digitoday.

Finnish Software Industry Survey 2007 report published

November 27, 2007 – Finnish Software Industry Survey 2007 official report has now been published. The report presents the results of the 10th annual survey on the Finnish software product industry. For more information, visit the project website or contact the researchers.

Your feedback on the survey and the report is greatly appreciated. We also welcome ideas for improving next year's survey and report. Please click here for the feedback form.

Seminar: Software Business Capabilities - A Critical Business Success Factor in the Internet Age

November 22, 2007 – SBL is proud to announce a seminar on Software Business Capabilities - A Critical Business Success Factor in the Internet Age, to be held on Tuesday, December 11, 2007 at 14:00 at TKK.

This event marks the 5th anniversary of the industrially funded professorship of Software Product Business. As such it will give you an overview of where software business and its research has come and – more importantly – where it can take you in the years to come.

The seminar will feature talks by SBL's Professor Jyrki Kontio and Petteri Vainikka, as well as Matti Airas (Nokia), Artturi Tarjanne (Nexit Ventures), Keith Bonnici (Tekes) and an expert panel discussion. For more information, read the poster or contact Professor Jyrki Kontio. Please sign up by December 7, 2007.

SBL featured in Academy of Finland publication

November 22, 2007 – The Academy of Finland published today its report on Computer Science Research in Finland. All Computer Science related research units, including SBL, were included in the review.

Overall, the research in computer science in Finland is “healthy with impressive publication activity and international visibility”. The panel of international experts also made several recommendations for improvement, including better focused publication strategies, improving researcher career paths and improving international mobility of researchers.

SBL’s review in the report was quite positive and work of the laboratory was quoted as quite successful. For more information, download the publication (SBL on pages 35 - 36).

New book on Empirical Software Engineering published

November 22, 2007 – Guide to Advanced Empirical Software Engineering by Forrest Shull, Janice Singer and Dag I.K. Sjøberg (Eds) has now been published by Springer.

The book, which is mainly aimed at graduates, researchers, practitioners, is an recommended read for everyone who conducts empirical research in software engineering. It "offers information across a range of techniques, methods, and qualitative and quantitative issues", as well as "provides guidance on how to design, conduct, analyse, interpret and report empirical studies".

The book includes a chapter written by SBL's Professor Kontio together with Johanna Bragge (HSE), and Laura Lehtola (Tekla), titled The Focus Group Method as an Empirical Tool in Software Engineering.

For more information, please visit the Springer website or order the book from Amazon.

SBL's course best in all of CSE Dept

October 25, 2007 – For the second year running, and for the second time it was taught, SBL's course T-128.5400, Software Entrepreneurship Seminar, was ranked the best small course in all of Department of Computer Science and Engineering during the academic year of 2006-2007. The course is taught by SBL's Olli-Pekka Mutanen.

In the survey, more than 150 CSE courses were evaluated by the student feedback received. The courses were put into two categories: small courses (feedback from 10-49 students) and big courses (feedback from 50 or more students).

Master's thesis work for F-Secure Corporation

September 28, 2007 – Software Business Lab is now recruiting a Master's thesis writer to research quality assurance process improvement for F-Secure Corporation. You will be working in close co-operation with professionals of F-Secure and SBL, who have succeeded both in research and industrial fronts. The work offers a good opportunity to continue as an employee of F-Secure or with postgraduate studies. The applicants should be able to look at issues from a business perspective, and be experienced in quality assurance and software processes.

In addition the applicant should meet the following requirements:

• Fluent English
• Good communication skills
• Willingness to travel
• Knowledge of agile development methods

If you wish know more about this opportunity, please read the recruitment poster and send an e-mail to Janne Nylund or Jyrki Kontio.

Please send your application by 14th October 2007 to janne.nylund[at]tkk.fi.

Master's Thesis opportunity at SBL

September 20, 2007 – SBL is inviting an application for M.Sc. thesis research for the Software Business Foundations project. SBF is an international research project aiming to establish research foundations for software business in collaboration with industry and academia. The job provides an excellent opportunity to work with an international team and study novel issues that are likely to be important directions for software industry and research. Like the SBF project itself, the thesis would likely emphasize an interdisciplinary and broad perspective on specific software business strategy concerns.

For more information, please read the recruitment poster and contact Juhana Peltonen (juhana.peltonen[at]tkk.fi, tel. +358 40 508 4020)

Write your Master's Thesis with SBL and Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association

September 7, 2007 – Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association and SBL are seeking a Master’s Thesis student to develop a market place for theses. The objective is to develop an online market place, in which companies and students can search for authors, positions and topics for theses.

For more information, please read the recruitment poster (in Finnish) or contact Professor Jyrki Kontio. Please mention “Lopputyöpörssi” in the message header, and send your applications by September 30, 2007.

Finnish Software Industry Survey 2007 summary report published

August 28, 2007 – Finnish Software Industry Survey 2007 summary report has been published at a press conference.

The results show that, e.g. the software product revenue grew by 13.1%, reaching 1.41 million € in 2006 (1.3 billion in 2005) and the industry employed ca. 13000 professionals in 2006 (12 340 in 2005). For more information, read the summary report, the press release and the press conference slide set or contact Lead researcher Mikko Rönkkö or Project coordinator Olli-Pekka Mutanen.

For articles in the media (in Finnish), please follow the links: Yle Talous, Tietoviikko, MicroPC, Kaleva, Verkkouutiset, Kauppalehti Online, Talentum.com, Taloussanomat, Tekniikka&Talous.

The SBL team is back at work

August 13, 2007 – The first lab seminar of the fall season was held on August 9 on a bird watching platform next to SBL offices. Laajalahti Nature Reserve, where the platform stands, is said to be one of the best bird wetlands within the greater Helsinki region.

The seminar discussed current and future issues at the lab.

In addition, Professor David G. Messerschmitt has also arrived in Finland, and is excited to be back at work here at SBL.

Finnish Software Industry Survey 2007 launched

June 1, 2007 – After a successful pilot survey, the main survey of Finnish Software Industry Survey 2007 (Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2007) has been launched. Finnish software companies will receive their questionnaire by mail this week.

"The time spent on responding to the survey is an investment in the future. The survey provides the decision makers in the public sector with better tools for understanding software industry as a whole, directing development measures more accurately and thus improving the situation of software business companies in Finland," says Mikael Honkavaara from Hybrid Graphics Oy.

To participate in the survey, or for more information, visit the OSKARI 2007 website, contact the researchers, or read the press release (in Finnish).

SBL welcomes two new employees

May 2, 2007 – In May, two new employees begin their work at SBL: Juhana Peltonen, researcher and Eero Eloranta, research assistant.

Juhana Peltonen is now a researcher and Ph.D. student at Software Business Laboratory. Juhana holds a M.Sc. (tech) degree in software engineering from Tampere University of Technology (TUT), which he completed with honours in less than three years. Earlier in 2003 Juhana, had joined Ionific Ltd. (now a part of Sasken Finland), a rapidly growing Finnish mobile software company. During this four year period, Juhana was involved in the development of globally used mobile software from kernel-level components to applications. He acted three years as project manager and was involved in various design, architecting, and development tasks. Furthermore, Juhana was involved in M.Sc. thesis guidance and software process development. By joining SBL Juhana seeks to gain a broader understanding of the software ecosystem, especially strategy, business networks, and marketing. Juhana is currently working on the Software Business Foundations project to which he is realigning his prior software engineering oriented Ph.D. studies.

Eero Eloranta is a research assistant at the Software Business Laboratory of Helsinki University of Technology. He currently works in OSKARI project, which is annual survey of Finnish software industry. In addition, he is finishing his master's thesis on Finnish software industry evolution during recent years. Prior to his joining to SBL, he worked in the Finnish software industry for almost ten years, mainly as a software entrepreneur.

Finnish Software Industry Survey 2007

April 19, 2007 – The Annual Finnish Software Industry Survey has begun. The survey, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, is conducted by SBL in cooperation with advisory partners.

The survey's objective is to provide information about the current situation of the Finnish software product companies. The survey focuses on the software product companies and their product development and product management, profitability, internationalization, sales, and financing related issues.

Find out more about this survey at the project website and at SwBusiness.fi.

SBL welcomes yet another three new employees

April 18, 2007 – In March, three new employees joined SBL: Mikko Laine, Reseracher; Mikko Rönkkö, Researcher; and Anna Zaitsev, Course Assistant.

Mikko Laine, Researcher, has joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center, Helsinki University of Technology. Currently he is working full-time in the Software Business Foundations project. He holds a M.Sc. in Industrial Engineering and Management from the Helsinki University of Technology, in which he is also pursuing his Doctoral degree. His research interests include virtual communities, technology strategy and software business management. Prior to joining SBL, Mikko has also gathered six years of work experience in the Finnish mobile industry in various positions, including software development, concept development and project management.

Mikko Rönkkö, Researcher (part-time), has returned to Software Business Laboratory, while also continuing to conduct research at the University of Turku. Currently he works in the Finnish Software Industry Survey OSKARI.

Anna Zaitsev, Course Assistant, has joined Software Business Laboratory. She has a major in software business and engineering and a minor in strategy and international business.

Dr Oza to present at NRG Research Seminar Series

March 13, 2007 – SBL's Dr. Nilay Oza has been invited to give a seminar on Qualitative research in NRG Research Seminar Series at Nyenrode Business Universiteit, Netherlands. The NRG Research Seminar Series provides a platform for researchers to exchange research ideas and research findings in the areas of management and business administration. More information is available here.

SBL welcomes another three new employees

February 9, 2007 – SBL welcomes three new employees: Aku Valtakoski, Researcher; Jesse Karjalainen, Research assistant; and Henri Sainio, Research Assistant.

Aku Valtakoski, Researcher, has joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center. His research interests include services as a product and a source of competitive advantage, economic and strategic models of software business, and value chains and value networks. Currently he is working full-time in the VERGO project. Aku holds a M.Sc. in Theoretical Physics and a M.Soc.Sc. in Economics from University of Helsinki, and is now pursuing a PhD degree in software business, specializing on the role of product-based services in vertical software market success. Prior to joining SBL, he has gathered seven years of experience working in the Finnish software industry, especially in product management and product development.

Jesse Karjalainen, Research Assistant, pursues his master's thesis on growth, competitiveness and market power in international vertical software businesses at Helsinki University of Technology, Software Business Laboratory (SBL). His personal long-term goal is to gain a holistic view of software business by obtaining a thorough knowledge of both technological and economical aspects of software development. His strategy is to first develop a deep understanding about the technical aspects of software development and then move his focus more and more towards the business-oriented aspects. He has included both technical and economical studies in his master's degree with a major in Telecommunications Management and minors in Software Process and Technology Management (University of South Australia), Corporate Strategy and International Business, and Software Systems. So far, he has deepened his technical expertise through industrial exposure. He designed and implemented Data Warehouses (DW) and Business Intelligence (BI) solutions to support management's decision making process. He held the positions of Software Architect and Software Engineer at Aureolis.

Henri Sainio, Research Assistant, has joined SBL to finalize his Master's thesis, to pursue PhD degree and to launch his project initiative "Asian Software Competence Project" in which he introduces a model for cross-border collaboration of Finnish-Asian software companies. Earlier, Henri has studied Computer Science (B.Sc) and Information System Science (M.Sc), but also business subjects, such as international business and management. Henri’s research interests include (1) strategic alliances as vehicles of software business success, innovation and industry transformation, (2) complex systems in modelling software business and (3) "Asian software competence". In the latter context, he wrote a report ordered by EU-India SME Learn-Net: "Comparative Analysis India - Finland: the Software Clusters in Chennai, Bangalore and Finland". During the last two years, he was involved in university-industry collaboration projects for the client Nokia Networks - first as a developer and then as a project manager ensuring a successful delivery of a mobile software product utilizing advanced network technology.

Volendam manifesto drafted

January 30, 2007 – In mid-January, The Institute of Information and Computing Sciences at Utrecht University, Netherlands, organized an international expert panel on software products. The purpose of the panel was to map the future trends of software business, research agenda and impact on society: the resulting "Volemdam Manifesto", as it's currently known, describes the core of software business research, and will be used as a cornerstone in the research.

SBL's Professor Kontio, a member of the panel, notes that invitation to the panel, as well as SBL's contribution to the manifesto, is a considerable recognition to the pioneering work done in Finland and Helsinki University of Technology.

Other expert members of the panel include Alan MacCormack, Harvard Business School, Alan Hevner, NSF and University of South Florida, Anthony Finkelstein, University College London, Tony Wasserman, Carnegie Mellon West University and Sjaak Brinkkemper, Utrecht University.

For more information, read the press release published at SWBusiness.fi, and SBL's new Software Foundations project.

Software Entrepreneurship Seminar 2007 starts

January 18, 2007 – The best course of CSE Department, T-128.5400 Software Entrepreneurship Seminar, will start on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at 16:00 hours. The first class will be lectured in TU6 & TU7 in TUAS Building (Otaniementie 17). For addition information, please visit the course website. The course still has room for a couple students, but do hurry!

SBL welcomes three new employees

January 11, 2007 – SBL welcomes three new employees: Yana Selioukova, Researcher; Petteri Vainikka, Research Assistant; and Jussi Harvela, Industrial Liaison Manager and Researcher.

Yana Selioukova, Researcher, has joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center, Helsinki University of Technology. She holds a M.Sc. in economics from St. Petersburg State University of Information Technologies, Mechanics and Optics (Russia), majored in information systems in economics from year 2000 and M.Sc. in technology from Lappeenranta University of Technology (Finland), majored in software requirements engineering from year 2002. Now she is studying for her PhD degree. Her research interests include internationalization of software companies, offshore software development, software development processes. She was previously involved in multidisciplinary projects related to international and cross-boarder cooperation between SW companies, monitoring of ICT market and high-tech IT companies, innovations environment and state policy. She published two practical guidelines "Case Study on Software Development Company - Opportunities and Challenges of Russian High-Tech Start-Up" and "IT Market Growth Centers in Russia: Moscow, St. Petersburg and Novosibirsk" and several research articles in frameworks of those projects. Currently she is involved into VASPO project run by SBL.

Petteri Vainikka, Research Assistant, has joined the SBL to work on his M.Sc. thesis on the effect of networks on the growth and competitiveness of vertical software businesses. He has studied telecommunications engineering with a major in telecommunications management and minors in for example leadership, industrial economics, and marketing (HSE). Prior to returning to his academic ambition, he played a key role in shaping the Finnish mobile game industry at companies such as Sumea Interactive Ltd. and later Rovio Mobile Ltd., which he founded and where held the position of Head of Sales & Marketing. He has strong practical knowledge of international sales and marketing, business development, brand management, entrepreneurship, start-up management, and internationalization strategies. His aim is to combine his recent ICT industry experience with the latest know-how from the academic world, and hopefully produce beneficial new knowledge to help the Finnish software industry grow internationally, as well as promote entrepreneurship.

And finally, Jussi Harvela, Industrial Liaison Manager and Researcher, joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center in November 2006. Previously he led Solid corporation which he joined in 1993 as vice president of marketing and business development. In 1998, Harvela was named vice president North America which included establishing Solid's world headquarters in Mountain View, California. In 2000, Harvela was appointed president & chief operating officer. In 2002, Harvela was named president & chief executive officer driving the company to lead the market by creating industry-leading products, closing key strategic customers and building a winning team. He was also member of Solid board of directors 1996 - 2005. Mr. Harvela left Solid 2005 for a family sabbatical and to navigate back to his native Finland. Prior to joining Solid, Harvela held various business, sales and technology management positions with JDC Data, a Danish subsidiary of AT&T. Harvela received a master's degree in software engineering, international marketing, and business strategy from the Helsinki University of Technology, and a bachelor's degree in music from Lahti Conservatorium. Mr. Harvela also advises in global expansion and business and holds board memberships in growth companies.

In February, SBL team will be further strengthened by the addition of new employees. Check back to read more about them!

Professor Kontio in international expert panel on software products

January 4, 2007 – Next week, on January 14-16, The Institute of Information and Computing Sciences at Utrecht University in the Netherlands will organize an international expert panel on software products.

The panel, which includes SBL's Professor Jyrki Kontio, will discuss future directions for product software research and aims at defining the core concepts of the software engineering research field of product software and to draft a research agenda for the area. Other expert members of the panel are Alan MacCormack, Harvard Business School, Alan Hevner, NSF and University of South Florida, Anthony Finkelstein, University College London, and Sjaak Brinkkemper, Utrecht University.

In addition to Professor Kontio, SBL's Researcher Mika Ahokas will also participate in the event and speak about software firm's growth, scalability and the Vergo project.

SBL at Navigare necesse est seminar

December 18, 2006 – SBL took an active part in last week's Navigare necesse est seminar, organized jointly by Centre of Expertise for Software Product Business, Technopolis Ventures, Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Association, TKK and SBL. The two-day seminar was organized as the final seminar of the Centre of Expertise for Software Product Business, and among the guest speakers were ST1 Chairman of the Board Mika Anttonen and SysOpenDigia Chairman of the Board Pekka Sivonen.

SBL’s Professor Kontio also gave a presentation on the development and future of software business. The slides can be accessed here.

Professor Kontio was also quoted in a Tietoviikko article about customized software products.

Professor Messerschmitt in SW Business Profile

December 7, 2006 – SBL's Professor David G. Messerschmitt is featured in the Finnish Software Business Cluster's webportal, SWBusiness.fi, as the profile of the month. The profile, written by Sofia Williams, discusses Professor Messerschmitt's involvement in SBL's Software Business Foundations project, as well as his background and interests.

VASPO project funded

December 4, 2006 – SBL's VASPO project has been granted funding by Tekes. Conducted in collaboration with the University of Oulu and University of Jyväskylä, VASPO's research focuses on management and improvement of change-driven software organization. The project consists of three one-year modules and runs from 2006 to 2009.

In addition to SBL's Professor Kontio acting as a responsible leader in the project, new researchers are actively seeked to work on the project. For more information, see the SBL Recruiting page.

Professor Kontio elected to the FIPA Board of Directors

November 30, 2006 – SBL's Professor Kontio has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Finnish Information Processing Association FIPA (Tietotekniikan Liitto ry) for 2007 - 2008. At the same time, he is elected board member to its affiliates Tietotekniikan tutkimussäätiö and Infuture Oy.

The Finnish Information Processing Association is an independent association of Finnish ICT professionals and companies that provide ICT products and services or use them. Founded in 1953 as an association of punched card technology users, it currently has about 18.000 members.

Researcher Ahokas a talk at POLIGONI event

November 17, 2006 – SBL's Researcher Mika Ahokas gave a talk on the special opportunities and characteristics of software at a POLIGONI event on November 16, 2006. The event, organized by geomatics students association POLIGONI, concentrated on geographical information products.

SBL research paper in the most downloaded articles on ScienceDirect for Information and Software Technology

November 13, 2006 – SBL's Senior Researcher Nilay Oza's paper on 'Trust in software outsourcing relationships: An empirical investigation of Indian software companies' stood out as one of the most downloaded articles in ScienceDirect Information and Software Technology (IST) journal. The September TOP25 Hottest Articles results reflect the number of downloads by ScienceDirect users in April, May and June, 2006. A quarterly list of Top25 articles lists articles that have been downloaded the most, from any of the 24 subject areas or more than 2,000 journal titles on ScienceDirect. To download the paper or for more information click here.

Vergo project funded

November 6, 2006 – SBL's Vergo project has been granted funding by Tekes. Vergo is a three-year project, and its research focuses on success factors for growth, competitiveness, and market power in international vertical software businesses. The project will officially start in February 2007. Project is managed by Mika Ahokas.

Professors Kontio and Messerschmitt on radio and TV

November 3, 2006 – SBL's Professors Jyrki Kontio and David G. Messerschmitt gave an interview today to YLE on the breaking news about Microsoft's deal with Novell. The interview can be heard today on YLE Radio 1 at 17:00 hours, as a part of a program called Päivän Peili.

Two courses in the top three of CSE Dept!

November 1, 2006 – Two of SBL's courses were in the top three of best courses taught in the entire Department of Computer Science and Engineering during the academic year of 2005-2006.

T-128.5400 Software Entrepreneurship Seminar, as taught by Researcher Olli-Pekka Mutanen, was selected as the best small course. T-128.6790 Special Course in Software Business, taught by Researcher Mika Ahokas, was ranked third best.

In the survey, more than 180 CSE courses were evaluated by the student feedback received. The courses were put into two categories: small courses (feedback from 10-49 students) and big courses (feedback from 50 or more students).

SBL's, and the teachers' of course, achievement is remarkable, as only five courses were taught by SBL staff last year. With more courses lectured this academic year, we just may conquer the entire top five.

Master's thesis at Softability

October 25, 2006 – Softability Oy and SBL proudly announce an opportunity to write a Master's thesis on software development process. The thesis will be supervised by Professor Kontio.

For more information, please read the announcement, and contact Tero Vuorenmaa of Softability.

Professor David G. Messerschmitt will give a guest lecture on Wednesday

October 23, 2006 – Professor David G. Messerschmitt will give a guest lecture on Wednesday 25.10 at 12 o'clock in lecture hall AS1 at TUAS building. Lecture is part of course T-128.4101 Introduction to Software Business B. Professor Messerschmitt will talk about Software Ecosystem which is also subject of his book. Students will have excellent opportunity to get insight about this subject from one of world's top professors in the field of software business.

Internationalization clinic will start soon

September 29, 2006 – Deadline for registration to internationalization clinic will be October 4, 2006 (next Wednesday). Students should register both in webtopi and by filling information form. More information and links to registration can be found in course website.

Professor David Messerschmitt will join SBL

September 29, 2006 – Professor David Messerschmitt from University of California, Berkeley will join SBL as a senior visiting professor. He will work on the Software Business Foundations project and supervise doctoral research. Professor Messerschmitt is widely known for his work in digital signal processing and, more recently, for his contributions in the software business research. He co-authored the book Software Ecosystem with Clemens Szyperski.

Software Business Foundations project funded by Tekes

September 29, 2006 – SBL's Software Business Foundations project has been granted funding by Tekes. The project aims at establishing the theory base for software business and integrating software business research with contributions in related disciplines, such as management, organizational studies, information systems and software engineering. The project will start in a series of kick-off sessions in October, 2006.

SBL at ISERN 2006 in Rio de Janeiro

September 14, 2006 – The 14th International Software Engineering Research Network’s (ISERN) annual meeting will be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 18 and 19. The meeting aims to address timely topics, foster collaboration, encourage discussions and contribute in building the knowledge in experimental software engineering. The sessions in this year’s meeting are categorized in methodology oriented and industry oriented themes.

SBL is a member of the ISERN community. This year, from SBL, Professor Jyrki Kontio and Nilay Oza will contribute to the meeting. Additionally, Professor Kontio will also co-chair the 1st International Doctoral Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering (IDoESE 2006).

Program for the IDoESE Doctoral School Announced

September 6, 2006 – The program for the 1st International Doctoral Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering has been announced.

The event will be co-chaired by Professor Jyrki Kontio and Professor Victor R. Basili. Other senior members of the community will participate in the review process:  Professor Barry Boehm, University of Southern California; Professor Natalia Juristo, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; and Professor Claes Wohlin, Blekinge Institute of Technology.

The 12 selected students come from seven different countries - none from Finland, though. The school is a first of its kind, i.e., focusing on the use of empirical methods in doctoral research in software engineering.

Professor Messerschmitt's presentation slides are now available online

September 1, 2006 –Professor Messerschmitt's presentation slides, New Approaches to Software Applications Meeting Organizational and Process Needs, are now available online.

The presentation was used in the seminar organized by Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Ry together with SBL and TKK Dipoli's Global ICT Professional on August 9, 2006 in Restaurant Pörssi.

The Finnish Software Industry Survey main results have been released

August 22, 2006 –The Finnish Software Industry Survey (Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2006 in Finnish) press conference was held on August 22, 2006. The main results of survey are summarized below.

The revenue of the Finnish software product industry grew by almost 9.2 per cent and was 1.3 billion euros during the year 2005. International sales grew remarkably, reaching almost 25 per cent growth while growth in domestic market was more modest 1.4%. Companies have also started to pay more attention to issues related to the scalability of their business models; more emphasis and resources are placed on their productization and product development efforts.

The slides of the presentation are available at the OSKARI pages. For the official press release, please visit www.swbusiness.fi.

For articles in the media (in Finnish), click on the following links: Kauppalehti, Tietoviikko, Helsingin Sanomat, MTV3, STT, Digitoday, Taloussanomat, YLE24, ITviikko, SWBusiness,and Tekes.

Newspaper reports on Professor David G. Messerschmitt's visit to Finland

August 18, 2006 – Newspaper Länsiväylä published an article about Professor Messerschmitt's visit to Finland in the beginning of August.

In the article, published on August 16, 2006, Professor Messerschmitt goes through the current situation of software industry and how the importance of software has increased to business critical level in most companies. Professor Messerschmitt also points out challenges of software industry and how Software Business Foundations, a project led jointly by SBL's Professor Jyrki Kontio and Professor David Messerchmitt, increases competitiveness of Finnish software industry by disseminating research results to companies.

Read the full article by Leena Jokiranta: pdf, jpg.

Dr Hakan Erdogmus and Professor Barry Boehm visit SBL

July 3, 2006 – During the midsummer week, SBL was visited by two distinguished figures of the SE field: Dr. Hakan Erdogmus from National Research Council of Canada and Professor Barry Boehm from University of Southern California.

The visits took place in conjunction with the VBSE seminar, with Dr Erdogmus giving a presentation on Value-based software engineering. The seminar continued with a rather extended lunch-cum-dinner at Professor Kontio's home, where Professor Boehm made a surprise visit. As the sun never quite set in the warm Finnish summer night, the jam session lasted until midnight.

For more pictures, see Dr. Groove's picture page.

Seminar with Professor Emeritus David G. Messerschmitt

June 21, 2006 – Finnish Software Entrepreneurs Ry together with SBL and TKK Dipoli's Global ICT Professional are organizing a seminar on August 9, 2006, in the honor of Professor Emeritus David G. Messerschmitt from University of California, Berkeley, who will be visiting Finland in August. In the event, Professor Messerschmitt will give a speech on Software Ecosystem: special characteristics of software and software business, and discuss the matter with participants.

For more information, see the TKK Dipoli website on the event.

1st International Doctoral Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering

June 12, 2006 –The 1st International Doctoral Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering (IDoESE 2006) will be held on September 20, 2006 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The symposium is intended to provide an opportunity for the Ph.D. students pursuing their doctoral research in software engineering to present their work and plans to the more senior members of the community. The objective is to improve the empirical designs and rigor in doctoral dissertations, share experiences and practices, and support the networking and cooperation within the community, in particular, between the promising young researchers and senior member of the community. The event will be co-chaired by SBL's Professor Jyrki Kontio and Professor Victor R. Basili.

Please note that the deadline for submission of research plans is on June 15, 2006. For more information, see the IDoESE 2006 website.

Attend two-day Software Business Doctoral Summer School at SBL

June 7, 2006 – Software Business Doctoral Summer School aims to address the special characteristics of software business from research perspective. Research plans of participating doctoral students will be reviewed from the research problem formulation, research questions, and research methods perspectives. SBL is happy to announce that Professor Emeritus David Messerschmitt, from University of California, Berkeley will be the keynote speaker for the doctoral summer school. The summer school will be jointly organized by SBL and GEBSI.

For registration details and more information please go to http://www.sbl.tkk.fi/SBDSS06/

Poster presented at Nokia-TKK research seminar

June 1, 2006 – SBL's Professor Kontio and Researcher Mika Ahokas presented a poster at the Nokia-TKK research seminar on May 23, 2006. The poster was titled Engineering Software and Software Business Models, and it is available online.

SBL welcomes two new members

May 23, 2006 – SBL team is further strengthened by the addition of two new research assistants.

Kaius Perttilä, Research Assistant, has joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center. He is working on his Master’s thesis concerning productization of services in the ICT field. His studies at Helsinki University of Technology consist of telecommunications, industrial engineering and information technology. Before joining SBL Kaius worked as a software designer and IT administrator in various Finnish companies, and gained some international experience first as a programmer, and later as a researcher, at the Geneva based particle physics laboratory CERN.

Janne Nylund, Research Assistant, has joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center. He studies software business major at SBL and Corporate Strategy minor at Department of Industrial Engineering and Management. His work focuses on Finnish software business, internationalization and software business models. He has understanding of software engineering and computer science that helps him to discover new efficient ways to do software business.

Dr. Hakan Erdogmus visits SBL

May 17, 2006 – Dr. Hakan Erdogmus of National Research Council of Canada visits SBL on June 22 and gives a presentation on Value-based software engineering (VBSE). VBSE is a new paradigm for decision making in the software engineering context and it is based on value considerations in software engineering decisions.

Dr. Erdogmus is a Senior Research Officer with the Institute for Information Technology, National Research Council of Canada. His research interests are centered on agile software development and software economics. He has co-edited two books, "Value-Based Software Engineering" and "Advances in Software Engineering", both published by Springer and he was program co-chair of the 2004 edition of the North American XP/Agile series of conferences. He was recently appointed the next Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Software, effective of 2007.

First Bachelor's thesis

May 16, 2006 –The first ever Bachelor's thesis in the CSE Department of TKK was presented at SBL on April 27, 2006, when Elias Alanko held a presentation of his Bachelor's thesis on pricing software products, aptly named "Ohjelmistotuotteiden hinnoittelu yritysmarkkinoilla". SBL's Reseacher Jani-Pekka Jokinen acted as the instructor of the thesis.

First EQUITY2007 Conference

April 28, 2006 –The First IEEE Computer Society Conference on Exploring Quantifiable Information Technology Yields, EQUITY 2007, will be held in the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in the city of Amsterdam, in March 2007. IEEE EQUITY is a new platform for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas and results on exploring value creation (or destruction) through information technology.

SBL's Professor Kontio is in the program committee of the EQUITY2007 Conference.

Open position for Research assistant

April 19, 2006 – SBL is looking for a skillful, active and energetic Research assistant for the summer. In addition to salary and a welcoming working environment, we offer an unique opportunity to work in the cutting edge of technology development, where academia and industry meet and the work is challenging, diverse and interesting.

The work of the Research assistant will be in two projects: Frisbee, which studies internationalization and Oskari, which surveys the Finnish software product industry. The work will start either in May and last until the end of August or according to agreement; details of the position, responsibilities and salary will be agreed according to the applicant's competency and work experience. The applicant is expected to have good skills in written and spoken Finnish and English, and previous experience of using SPSS statistics application is beneficiary but not required.

For more information, please read the news item at TKY webnews or contact Researchers Mika Ahokas and Aki Lassila.

Please send in your application now - the deadline is April 30, 2006.

Finnish Software Product Industry Survey 2006

April 18, 2006 – Oskari is an annually implemented survey on the Finnish software product industry, which is done by the SBL in cooperation with the Centre of Expertise for Software Product Business. The objective of the survey is to provide basic information about the current state of the Finnish software product business. The survey focuses on software product companies i.e. companies that sell software products they themselves design, develop, and maintain. The purpose of the survey is to:

• Provide information on the software business: sales, R&D, personnel etc. since this information is not available from other sources
• Understand the ways Finnish software product companies conduct business
• Identify the main challenges of the Finnish software product companies
• Identify the actions that the different public stakeholders can take in order to support Finnish software product companies

New members in the FRISBEE project

March 3, 2006 – SBL is thrilled to announce that new members have joined FRISBEE Project. Sentera Oyj, Mirasys Oy, Mermit Oy and Biocomputing Platforms Oy have joined the project as it enters its third year. In addition, CBOSS has upgraded its membership to full member. The continuing members are GoodMood Oy, Ohjelmistoyrittäjät ry, Tekla Oyj, Sysopen Digia Oyj, Ubisecure Oy and Blue While Venture Inc.

FRISBEE is 15 person-years project consisting of three one-year modules (2004-2007). Research focuses on internationalization of software product companies. The project aims to help businesses to become international faster and more successfully and to substantially strengthen current knowledge base in the area of software business research.

Professor Barry Boehm gives a keynote at CSEET

February 14, 2006 – Professor Barry Boehm of USC will give a keynote presentation at the 19th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training (CSEET 2006) in Hawaii in April. His work is also a topic in the panel chaired by Professor Kontio: Industrial Impact through Education -- Lessons Learned from Barry Boehm's Contributions to Software Engineering. Panelists include Professor Rick Kazman, University of Hawaii, Professor Dieter H. Rombach, IESE Fraunhofer Institute, Dr. Rick Selby, Northrop Grumman Corporation, and Professor Victor R. Basili, University of Maryland. Professor Boehm acts as an advisor for SBL's SB Foundations project.

SBL has established cooperation with two leading academics in the FiDiPro program: Professor David Messerschmitt and Dr. Shari Pfleeger

February 10, 2006 – SBL has prepared a joint application for the Finland Distinguished Professor Programme with Emeritus Professor David Messerschmitt and Dr. Shari Lawrence Pfleeger. The proposed project would establish a new professorship at TKK and provide funding for the SB Foundations project. Both Dr. Messerschmitt and Dr. Pfleeger are world-renowned researchers who have published classic works in the area of software business and software engineering.

The proposed project and professorships would substantially strengthen SBL’s ability to pursue world-class research. The plan also calls for increased interactions with the University of California at Berkeley. Both proposed professors are interested in the research opportunities that this project offers:

Professor Messerschmitt: “I hope our joint proposal is successful, because spending time in Helsinki working with my colleagues in the software business lab would be really fun and, I believe, very fruitful. You have found ways to mix business and technical in a fruitful collaboration, and I am looking forward to being a part of that!”

Dr. Pfleeger, a long-time, established author in software quality and research methods: “The SBL is doing important, interdisciplinary work, and I look forward to working there.”

From the perspective of SBL, the proposal is a major opportunity. "This application is an important milestone in reaching our strategic objective of being one of the top research groups in the world in the area of software business. Dr. Messerschmitt and Dr. Pfleeger are leading researchers in their fields with significant experience and insight in this area and having them supervise and lead research in our lab is a major opportunity for us and for the Finnish software industry", comments Professor Kontio.

Matti Heikkonen elected as the new chairman of Ohjelmistoyrittäjät ry

February 8, 2006 – SBL's Researcher Matti Heikkonen has been elected as the new chairman of Ohjelmistoyrittäjät ry - Finnish Software Entrepreneurs. Mr. Heikkonen has been in the Board of the association since 2004, received praises for his work on the internationalization clinic organized by SBL. Mr. Heikkonen is also a part-time researcher at SBL.

SBL's Professor Kontio was also elected in the Board of the association: "this is a good opportunity to increase co-operation between academia and industry". For more information, please visit www.ohjelmistoyrittajat.fi.

Mikael Honkavaara chosen as the Software Entrepreneur of the Year

February 8, 2006 – Ohjelmistoyrittäjät ry has chosen Mikael Honkavaara as the Software Entrepreneur of the Year 2005. Mr Honkavaara is the CEO of Hybrid Graphics Oy, which develops graphic for mobile devices. SBL congratulates Mr Honkavaara for the award.

The OTSO COTS evaluation method highly cited

February 7, 2006 – The OTSO method for COTS evaluation and selection has been frequently cited in recent research as one of the first and widespread methods for COTS component selection, e.g., Google Scholar lists over 200 citations on it, including several journal citations. A recent paper cited it as "seminal work" in the area (Navarrete et al. 2005).

The OTSO method was originally developed by Professor Kontio -- while working for Professor Victor Basili at the University of Maryland -- for the NASA Earth Orbiting System program and published at ICSE 1996. Several subsequent researchers have used ideas and elements of the method that integrated goal-driven evaluation, multiple criteria decision-making methods and systematic process for COTS evaluation.

Dissertation on software outsourcing

February 2, 2006 – SBL's Professor Kontio will act as an opponent on Marianne Kinnula's doctoral dissertation titled "The formation and management of a software outsourcing partnership -- A case study" on Feb 4, 2006. The dissertation proposes a life cycle of outsourcing partnership and success factors are identified.

TKK ISERN pages have been opened

February 2, 2006 – The TKK ISERN pages have been opened at SBL's site. ISERN (International Software Engineering Research Network) is a community that consists of researchers that want to conduct sound empirical research in the area of software engineering. The community holds an annual meeting to address timely topics and exchange ideas.

SBL's Professor Kontio is the TKK member of ISERN and will coordinate TKK activities in this area. For further information, see the ISERN pages at SBL's site.

Call for papers of the 32nd EUROMICRO Conference

January 27, 2006 – The Call for papers deadline of the 32nd EUROMICRO Conference is approaching, taking place on March 15, 2006. Software business researchers and students are invited to submit papers - if accepted the paper must be personally presented at the conference in the beautiful Croatia next autumn.

SBL's Professor Kontio is one of the Special Session organizers of the conference, involved in the Special Session on Value-based Software Engineering (VBSE).

Professor Kontio in a radio talk show

January 23, 2006 – SBL's Professor Kontio will participate in a radio talk show "Julkinen sana", hosted by Juha Kulmanen on the YLE1 national radio station. The theme of the discussion is "prospects for electronic business" and the show is aired on Monday, Jan 30, 2006 at 12:15 and broadcasted again on Tuesday, Jan 31 at 23:00 hrs. The discussion is also available on the Internet after the broadcast times.

Click here for more information on YLE Radio 1 Podcasting.

Nilay Oza at the Connecting Rural Communities 2006 Conference

January 20, 2006 – SBL's senior researcher Nilay Oza will give an ’invited talk’ on Building trust – Challenges and Proposition at Connecting Rural Communities conference. With the rapid projected development of rural communications in countries including India and China there has never been a greater opportunity for ICT companies to stake their claim on this lucrative market. The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) in conjunction with the Department of Telecommunications and the Indian Institute of Management is to hold the timeliest international conference dedicated to the market, Connecting Rural Communities 2006, in India on Jan 30th - 2nd February 2006.

Nilay Oza and the EU-INDIA SME project

January 20, 2006 – SBL's senior researcher Nilay Oza has been invited to join as a mentor to EU-INDIA SME project delegation to India. More information on the project delegation is available at the TKK Dipoli website.

Professor Kontio at Webcasters Forum

January 20, 2006 – SBL's Professor Kontio gave a presentation on "adding value to services by productisation and cooperation" on January 19, 2006 at the Webcaster's forum.

Video and slides of the presentation can be found at the GoodMood site.

Software Entrepreneurship Seminar to be conducted this winter

January 11, 2006 – Software Entrepreneurship Seminar T-128.5400, the course on software entrepreneurship, is to be lectured this winter. The course is targeted at both students and graduate students interested in software entrepreneurship. The course language is Finnish.

This course starts on January 25, 2006. For details, see the T-128.5400 page.

Doctoral Seminar to be conducted this spring

January 11, 2006 – The Software Business Laboratory is happy to announce a high-quality seminar for students working on their Master's or Ph.D. theses related to software business. The aim of the thesis seminar is to assist students in learning and practicing research skills they need.

The course starts on January 19th, 2006. For enrolment details, see the T-128.7900 page

Outstanding Paper Award to Researcher Aki Lassila

January 10, 2006 – Paper by Aki Lassila, titled Moving from Product-Based Business to Online Service Business, received the outstanding paper award at the IADIS (International Association for Development of the Information Society) e-Commerce 2005 Conference. The conference was held in Porto, Portugal and the conference received 128 submissions (full papers) from more than 32 countries and the acceptance rate was below 30%.

The paper discussed how a software product company can expand its business with the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. The objective of the paper was to study how a software company can by taking advantage of the proposed benefits of the SaaS model and by managing to solve or avoid the associated risks, achieve returns from scale while holding on to scope economies, benefit from its partners complementary skills and assets, and at the same time fulfill customers’ customization requirements with its SaaS offering. The case study focused on F-Secure and its Service Platform security service.

The paper is available by request from the author.

Professor Kontio and Reseacher Mika Ahokas at ISERN, ISESE and IASESE in Australia

December 17, 2005 – In November, Professor Jyrki Kontio and Mika Ahokas travelled to Noosa Heads, Australia to attend the ISERN 2005 meeting and ISESE 2005 conference. In addition, Mr Ahokas attended the IASESE School for Ph.D. Students. Both Professor Kontio and Mr Ahokas described the week as productive and valuable.

Their paper "Effects of Software Engineering Practices on the Scalability of Firms’ Software Development Output" was presented in ISESE 2005 conference among full-papers and recognized as "Best late-breaking paper" by Chairman Karl Cox.

Professor Kontio and Researcher Mika Ahokas give a talk at NAIST, Japan

December 12, 2005 – In November, Professor Jyrki Kontio and Researcher Mika Ahokas visited the Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) in Japan, meeting Professors Ken-ichi Matsumoto and Mike Barker. The purpose of their visit was to enhance the collaboration between the Software Business Laboratory and the Nara Institute of Science and Technology. Professor Kontio and Mr Ahokas gave presentations about Software Business, scalability and the state of Finnish Software Business.

Professor Kontio in the Program Committee of the ARES 2006 Conference

November 24, 2005 – The First International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security ("ARES 2006 – The International Dependability Conference") in Vienna, Austria on April 20-April 22nd, 2006 will bring together researchers and practitioners in the area of dependability. SBL's Professor Kontio has been invited to the Program Committee of a workshop organized in conjunction with the conference.

Professor Kontio in the Program Committee of the 32nd EUROMICRO SEAA Conference

November 23, 2005 – The 32nd Euromicro Conference on Software Engineering and Advanced Applications (SEAA) is to be held in Croatia on August 28-September 1, 2006. It brings together people from business, industry, research, and academia who are working in information technology with its various aspects. SBL's Professor Kontio has been invited to the Program Committee of the event.

Managing growth in software business

November 15, 2005 –SBL's Professor Kontio and Researcher Mika Ahokas organized a seminar in TechVilla City, targeted at software firms. The seminar focused on defining the offering of a software firm (service vs. products), building strategy and managing growth. The aim of the event was to give software firms up-to-date information on software business research, and to increase the opportunities of cooperation between firms and institutes of higher education.

Time: Thursday November 3, 2005 at 9:00 - 12:00
Place: TechVilla City (Kankurinkatu 4-6, Hyvinkää, Finland)

Professor Kontio in the Program Committee of the Agile 2006 Conference

November 10, 2005 – The Agile 2006 Conference is to be held in Minneapolis on July 23-28, 2006. The conference will have a research track that presents original research on agile software development methods. SBL's Professor Kontio has been invited to the Program Committee of the event.

New members strengthen the SBL team

November 9, 2005 – In October, three new members joined the SBL team.

Nilay V. Oza, Senior Researcher, has joined the Software Business Laboratory, Helsinki University of Technology. His research interests include software business, global software outsourcing, business relationship management, trust in relationships, empirical software engineering and theories such as transaction cost economics, game theory, rational choice theory and social exchange theory. Nilay`s multidisciplinary research interests cultivated during his doctoral work. Nilay is in process of submitting the final thesis for his PhD degree at the School of Computer Science, Systems and Software Research Group, University of Hertfordshire, U.K. During the doctoral study of three years, Nilay has undertaken a large scale empirical investigation in offshore software outsourcing. Earlier, Nilay undertook specialist masters degree in software engineering from the University of Hertfordshire.

Mikko Rönkkö is now Researcher at the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center. He specializes in strategies of software companies. He has studied primarily industrial management and software engineering in Helsinki University of Technology. His prior work experience includes working as a researcher in industrial management, founding and running a company as a CEO, and working as a software developer.

Anna Skog has joined the Software Business Laboratory of Helsinki University of Technology as a part-time Researcher. She works as a consultant at Accenture, where she has gathered expertise on CRM processes and applications. Anna holds M.Sc. (Tech) degree in Technical Physics from year 1999. In her research she focuses on service and product industries in software business, and especially in their more detailed definition.

Much to SBL's loss, Researcher Maija Perttula left SBL in October after finishing her Master's thesis and graduating Helsinki University of Technology with excellent study performance. The whole SBL team wishes her well in her new career as an analyst at Goldman Sachs International in London, and hopes to see her again someday.

Keynote at IIR's Testing Forum

September 27, 2005 – SBL's Professor Kontio gave a keynote presentation at IIR's Testing Forum '05. The slides are available for download at Professor Kontio's downloads area.

SBL's laboratory seminars started

September 15, 2005– SBL’s first laboratory seminar was held on September 15, 2005. Professor Jyrki Kontio gave a presentation on the SBL strategy, and the issue was discussed vividly among the SBL personnel. The SBL values and implementing them in our research and management was a subject of a more philosophical discussion that also included maintaining customer satisfaction and prioritiszng our personal and team objectives. From now on laboratory seminars will take place regularly - the next seminar is to be held on October 6, 2005.

Internationalization Clinic to be arranged this autumn and winter

September 5, 2005– An Internationalization Clinic for Finnish software businesses is arranged by SBL and Ohjelmistoyrittäjät Ky this autumn and winter.

The Clinic brings together the top leaders, firms and researchers of software business and aims at, among other goals, analyzing and developing internationalization plans, as well as encouraging and coaching the top leaders for internationalization.. For more information, please visit the Internationalization Clinic pages.

"Special Course in Software Business" to be lectured in 2005-2006

September 5, 2005– Special Course in Software Business is lectured during this autumn and winter. Enroll by September 20, 2005 – there is only room for ten active students.

The course is connected to the FRISBEE Project of the Software Business Laboratory. During the autumn 2005 and winter 2006 an ‘Internationalization Clinic’ is arranged for ten small and medium-sized software product companies. The Clinic is arranged an in co-operation with Ohjelmistoyrittäjät Ry.

The overall objective of the course is to provide a practical view on the matters software product companies need to take into consideration in internationalization. The students are offered an excellent opportunity to get to know the management of the participating companies and the coaches.

The Finnish Software Industry Survey main results have been released

August 23, 2005 – The Finnish Software Industry Survey (Ohjelmistoyrityskartoitus 2005 in Finnish) press conference was held on August 22, 2005. The main results of survey are summarized below.

The turnover of the Finnish software product industry grew remarkably, by 21 per cent, during the year 2004. The number of personnel grew by three per cent in the software product industry as the firms employed a total of 12,400 software industry professionals. Especially small firms in the industry increased their personnel count. The number of personnel is expected to grow also in 2005 as SW firms have budgeted a significant increase in recruiting new personnel number for the present year.

The slides of the presentation are available at the OSKARI pages. For the official press release, please visit www.swbusiness.fi.

See also what the other media has written: Digitoday, Kauppalehti, Taloussanomat, Talentum.com, NewsRoom Finland, TEKES, Yrittäjät.

New members strengthen the SBL team

August 17, 2005 – Three new members join the SBL team.

Päivi Pöyry, Researcher, has joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center. She holds a Licentiate degree from Helsinki University of Technology, a Master's degree from the University of Helsinki, and is finishing a Master's degree at Helsinki School of Economics. Her multidisciplinary research focuses on networked collaboration and management within the field of software business. She has previously worked in several multinational research and development projects, having responsibilities of a project manager and researcher at TKK's Software Business and Engineering Institute and at the University of Helsinki. Päivi has published several research papers and articles in international conferences and other scientific publications. Currently, she prepares her Ph.D. thesis for the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at TKK.

Aki Lassila, Researcher, has joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center. He holds a M.Sc. (Econ.) degree in Information Systems Science and Economics from Helsinki School of Economics (HSE), where he is currently pursuing his Ph.D. His research interests include new product and technology strategies of software companies, these companies' business models, networking efforts e.g. SW platforms, the Software as a Service model, and the internationalization and value networks of companies. His prior work experience in the ICT field spans more than ten years working in Finland and abroad in companies such as EUnet, Scandinavian Softline Technology, Ztango, and EuroRCSG. His duties have mainly consisted of software research and development and project and product management.

In addition, Anna Kaipainen, Secretary Trainee, has joined the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center. She is finishing her studies at the Helsinki Business Polytechnic in the Degree Program of Business and Modern Languages, majoring in both Information Technology and Investmenting. She is currently writing her Bachelor's Thesis on IPO by Google .

"Software Business I"-course to be lectured in 2005-2006

August 9, 2005 – Contrary to the information given in the Student's Guide, the course Software Business I will be lectured during the current academic year (2005-2006) instead of 2006-2007.

SBL Obtains Its First Academy of Finland Funding

June 14, 2005 – Dr. Markus Mäkelä, Research Director at the Software Business Laboratory, has obtained important financial support from the Academy of Finland – the national academy that governs the allocation of government funding of basic research. The Academy supports Dr. Mäkelä's impending visit to the University of Pennsylvania (the Wharton School), Philadelphia, via salary and various travel and research expenses. During the visit, he will pursue research, including collecting empirical material from the United States, in the areas of e.g. software development and productization, technology strategy, and international software entrepreneurship. Obtaining the first funding for the new laboratory from the typically very competitive allocations of the Academy of Finland is an important milestone for the Laboratory and it comes early in its life. 

A Major Milestone in Empirical Software Engineering -- Legacy of Victor R. Basili

May 16, 2005 – The ICSE 2005 hosted a special event to honor one of the pioneers of software engineering and empirical research, Professor Victor R. Basili in St. Louis. A special book consisting of landmark papers was published at the event. The symposium had six sessions covering professor Basili's work and the speakers included Professor Barry Boehm (USC), Professor Lionel Briand (Carleton University), Professor Michael Cusumano (MIT), and Professor Jyrki Kontio (TKK). The slides of the presentations are available at the Fraunhofer MD news page. 

Professor Kontio gives a Talk at Tekla's Capital Market Event

May 11, 2005 -- Professor Jyrki Kontio gave a presentation at Tekla Oyj's Capital Market Event on May 11. The presentation was titled "A Software Product Company: Recipe for Success". The event was organized by Tekla for investors, analysts and the media. SBL and Tekla cooperate in the FRISBEE research project to leverage research on software business.

Tekla is the industry-leading international software company whose model-based software products and related services are used in building and construction, energy distribution and in municipalities. Tekla Group's net sales for 2004 were 37.9 million euros. International operations accounted for 57% of net sales. Tekla is a public company, and its shares have been listed in the Helsinki Exchanges since May 2000. For additional information on Tekla, please visit www.tekla.com 

SBL won the contract to conduct the national survey on software product business in Finland

May 11, 2005 - Software Business Laboratory has won the contract for OSKARI, the annual Finnish software industry survey. Software Business Laboratory designs the survey, analyses the results, and prepares the final report.

The purpose of OSKARI is to provide volume information of the industry to understand various details of how Finnish software product companies conduct business; to identify main challenges of Finnish software product companies; and to identify actions that different public stakeholders can take to support the Finnish software product industry.

The survey is now open, please, if you are a software product company operating in Finland,  participate in the survey .

Seminar on May 26: Practical Experiences from the International Software Business

Content:

• SysOpen Digia CEO Mielonen: Experiences from the field


• Internationalization handbook for software entrepreneurs has been published


• Case study: From Start-up to Sale: successfully internationalizing from Finland to the UK


• New trends from software business research, and lessons learned for business

SBL New Course Offering Published

May 2, 2005 –  The new course offering of SBL has been made available and the new titles are listed on our courses page. The new courses will allow students to deepen their knowledge in software business much more than earlier. "We believe that our course offering is very competitive and unique and will give students excellent skills to master the challenges in software business", highlights Professor Kontio. 

SBL Is Presenting a Paper at EDSER-7

April 20, 2005 –  A paper by SBL authors Jyrki Kontio, Jani-Pekka Jokinen, Markus M. Mäkelä, and Virve Leino, "Current Practices and Research Opportunities in Software Business Models", will be presented at the 7th Economics-driven Software Engineering Workshop at the ICSE conference in St. Louis on May 15, 2005. EDSER is a series of workshops where the leading researchers in the field exchange ideas and discuss recent research. 

SBL Originated Song Hits Top-40

April 1, 2005 –   Dr. Groove, who works at the Software Business Laboratory, has issued a song that has climbed on the national chart on Mikseri.net pop/rock top 40 list. Professor Kontio comments the news by saying that "our laboratory definitely has sets its targets high and we want to see definite improvement in our scientific rankings.  This clearly indicates that we are on the right path: we rose from #22406 to this position in little over month.  Our research rocks".  

Finpro and Software Business Laboratory Cooperate

Software Business Laboratory's researchers Jani-Pekka Jokinen and Olli-Pekka Mutanen will give a presentation at Finpro's Workshop on "Developing sustainable international sales & support channel alliances in the ICT industry".  The workshop will be held on 27 April 2005.

Dr. Markus Mäkelä Appointed EVA Junior Fellow

March 1, 2005 – Dr. Markus Mäkelä, Research Director at the Software Business Laboratory and BIT Research Center of Helsinki University of Technology, has been appointed a Junior Fellow of the Finnish Business and Policy Forum EVA (Elinkeinoelämän Valtuuskunta) for the years 2005–2006.

The appointment can be viewed as an important recognition of the talent, dedication, and international orientation of the SBL people. The Junior Fellows for the years 2005–2006 include about 20 foreign and 3 Finnish people of ages below 34. The EVA organizes an annual Junior Fellows Conference for the purpose of exchanging ideas with the top leaders of the Finnish industry, typically hosted by a Finnish multinational corporation. EVA Fellows' work can include writing reports and other kinds of collaborative action. Junior Fellows become permanent standing members of the EVA’s Fellows Network that meets on an annual basis.

The Software Business Laboratory Featured at SWBusiness.fi

Feb 22, 2005 – The leading software business portal in Finland SWBusiness.fi has published a news article about the establishment of SBL in its research news category: "...The laboratory has already established itself as a significant and internationally well-known research unit in the field...".  The full article is available here. 

Website of the Software Business Laboratory Introduced

Feb 21, 2005 – We published the website of the Software Business Laboratory.

SBL Researcher Profiled at SWBusiness.fi

Jan 3, 2005 – One of the pioneers and success stories in the Finnish software business, Mr. Olli-Pekka Mutanen, was featured in the SWBusiness.fi web portal, including interview questions on why he chose a research path in his career and joined SBL.  Complete story available. 

A New Laboratory Established

Jan 1, 2005 – The Software Business Laboratory officially started its operations within the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Helsinki University of Technology (TKK). The laboratory's research is facilitated by TKK's BIT Research Center, at which Dr. Markus Mäkelä was appointed Research Director.

Dr. Markus Mäkelä's Dissertation Nominated to Compete for TKK's Dissertation Award

Dec 23, 2004 – The Department of Industrial Engineering and Management of Helsinki University of Technology (one its twelve departments) nominated Dr. Markus Mäkelä's Ph.D. dissertation as its candidate for the Ph.D. Thesis of the Year Award of the University. Some 130 dissertations were defended in 2004.

Professor Cusumano's Book "Business of Software" Selected as a Top Business Book of 2004 

Dec 18, 2004 – Professor Michael Cusumano's most recent book, "The Business of Software: What Every Manager, Programmer, and Entrepreneur Must Know to Thrive and Survive in Good Times and Bad" (Free Press, 2004), has been selected as one of the best business books of 2004 by the magazine Strategy and Business (published by Booz-Allen-Hamilton).  The book is also used on the course T-76.640 Software Business by the Software Business Laboratory at TKK. Michael A. Cusumano is the Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor of Management at MIT's Sloan School of Management.

Capistus Project Started

Dec 15, 2004 – We started the Capistus Project in which a novel classification of the Software Product Industry is produced. Capistus is conducted in collaboration with the Center of Expertise in Software Product Business and participates a research consortium formed together with Lappeenranta University of Technology and Turku School of Economics.

Professor Jyrki Kontio Serves as Ph.D. Defense Opponent in Sweden

Dec 8, 2004 – Professor Jyrki Kontio served as the opponent on Daniel Karlström's doctoral dissertation at Lund University in Sweden, on December 8, 2004.  The dissertation was supervised by Professor Per Runeson and the thesis title is "Integrating Management and Engineering Processes in Software Product Development". 

FRISBEE Website Published

Nov 1, 2004 – The FRISBEE Project website has been opened. FRISBEE is a three-year research project that focuses on internationalization challenges of software product companies. The next seminar in the FRISBEE project will be held on December 1, 2004, in Innopoli II.

A Software Business Internationalization Clinic

Oct 27, 2004 – The Software Business Internationalization Clinic of the Finnish Software Entrepreneurs' Association and our research group was well received by the media (the linked sites are in Finnish):

• Digitoday (Oct 25, 2004)
• Tekniikka ja Talous (Oct 25, 2004)
• IT-viikko (Oct 25, 2004)
• Prosessori (Oct 25, 2004)
• SWBusiness.fi (Oct 25, 2004)
• Tietoyhteiskunta.fi (Oct 25, 2004)
• Tekes' News (Oct 26, 2004)
• Tietoviikko (Oct 26, 2004)

Some photos from the Clinic are available.

A Recruiting Poster Published

Oct 10, 2004 – A recruiting poster (PDF) of the Software Business Research Group was published. If you are interested in working with us, please contact Professor Jyrki Kontio or Dr. Markus Mäkelä.

10th Anniversary Panel at the Software Metrics 2004 Conference

Sept 10, 2004 – Professor Jyrki Kontio has been invited to the 10th anniversary panel at the Software Metrics 2004 conference.  Other panelists are Panel Chair, Professor Marv Zelkowitz (University of Maryland), Professor Lionel Briand (Carleton University) and Professor Jim Bieman (Colorado State University).

Keynote at Euromicro 2004

Sept 3, 2004 – Professor Jyrki Kontio gave a keynote at the EuroMicro 2004 conference. The talk was entitled "Strategies and Guidelines for Creating Business Value through Software".

Best Paper Award

Aug 20, 2004 – Paper by Jyrki Kontio (SBL), Laura Lehtola (SoberIT) and Johanna Bragge (HSE), titled Using the Focus Group Method in Software Engineering: Obtaining Practitioner and User Experiences has been awarded a best paper award at the International Symposium on Empirical Software Engineering (ISESE) in Redondo Beach, California, on August 20, 2004.  

The paper discussed how the focus group method can be applied in software engineering research with rigor, what kind of problems can be addressed by it (explore issues where insights and opinions matter) and reported experiences from method use from three studies. 

The presentation slides are available at http://www.sbl.tkk.fi/jkontio/papers/FocusGroupISESE2004PPT.pdf 

A Major International Research Award to Dr. Markus Mäkelä

July 13, 2004 – In its annual international conference on July 13, 2004, the Academy of International Business awarded Dr. Markus Mäkelä of the Software Business Research Group of SoberIT its Eldridge Haynes Prize. The award can be considered one of the few high-ranking conference awards in the area of international business worldwide. Dr. Markku Maula from the Institute of Strategy and International Business (TKK) was the second author and co-recipient of the award. The award was now presented for the ninth time. For the first time, the award was received by scholars with doctoral degrees from a European university (both from Helsinki University of Technology). Further information available in Finnish. 

Additions to the Editorial Board of Software Process Improvement and Practice

SBL's Professor Jyrki Kontio and Dr. Hakan Erdogmus of the National Research Council of Canada have been invited to the Editorial Board of the journal Software Process Improvement and Practice.  

Professor Kontio Invited to the Advisory Board of Nordic Venture Partners

Professor Jyrki Kontio has been selected as an advisor to Nordic Venture Partners, a multi-stage ICT fund operating mainly in Scandinavia.  Dr. Kontio's role is to advise in new and growing technologies, investment strategies, and viability of potential investment targets.  

Professor Kontio invited to the Board of Fountain Park

Professor Jyrki Kontio has been elected to the board of Fountain Park Oy and as the Deputy Chairman of the board. Fountain Park is a Finland-based software product and services company that specializes in strategy processes, innovation management, change management, and web-pedagogy and technology.